


Moonset Deep

by MilkTeaMiku



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Interspecies Romance, M/M, Mermaids, Merman Lance, Merpeople, Minor Violence, Violence, merman hunk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2018-08-15 08:36:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 80,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8049556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MilkTeaMiku/pseuds/MilkTeaMiku
Summary: All his life he’d been told to make sure he was never seen – it was what all the children were taught from the moment they were born. Never let a human see you, never fall in love with a human, and most importantly, never kiss one. 
 For Lance, humans were a mystery. He'd lived beneath the surface of the ocean with his shoal his entire life, and had intended to remain there. He knew the danger humans posed to his kind, and what would happen if he came close to one. That's why, when he found one drowning, his first instinct was to save him.He'd never been good at following the rules anyway.





	1. Shipwreck Clearing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First line from [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLuWMOF6vOU)

_Kiss me on the mouth and set me free._

“There are some people who live above the surface of the ocean, where the protective arms of the Sea God can no longer reach,” a mother whispered as she rocked her sweet, newborn child in her arms. His glittering tail was no longer than her smallest fins, chubby with infancy, and his head small enough to fit entirely in the palm of one of her hands. He was a noisy child, always anxious for any and all attention, and it made her smile. “You mustn’t ever go there, my little sea pearl. The land-walkers mustn’t ever see you, or else they’ll take you from me, from all of us. Isn’t it frightening?”

_If you kiss one, they will be where you remain forever more. It is inevitable, and unavoidable, if you kiss them even once. You mustn’t ever kiss one on the mouth. It’ll create a bond of which the way to break is completely unknown, so you mustn’t. Remember that._

“The great Sea God loved a human, once,” she whispered, stroking the still-soft scales on the back of his tail to sooth his whimpers and pitiful cries. “A beautiful human, but a human that betrayed him, a human that stole his scales from him. It’s very painful for us to lose them, even a single one, and humans so greedily wish for them and their beauty, so you must be careful to keep them all. Had the Sea God not wished so fiercely to protect those of us who follow him, then he would have remained trapped by the kiss of that beautiful human. We must protect our lives in the very same way that he protected us.”

_Never fall in love with a human. They’ll bond you to them, to their bodies, to their souls, and you’ll be tangled in a net from which escape is especially difficult. Love is a tricky thing, my dear, and humans are the biggest tricksters of all._

 

Far off the shoreline of a large human continent lay an isolated island, beneath which was a large expanse of deep-water coral reefs and lines of caves and dens, worn into the rock bed by the movement of the waves and small earth rumbles. It was an advantageous place to reside, particularly in terms of protection, as it was bordered by chasms rifted through the sea floor. Those chasms were where hot columns of water rose from seeping lava burning beneath the surface of the floor, and were where large towers of rock stemming from where the main, upper coral habitats formed above-water cays and rock pools.

Lance’s shoal have been living in the area for as long as he could remember. Longer than his parents could remember, too. The entire shoal fiercely guarded their settlement and its valuable environments, especially from rival shoals and persistent sharks. There were many people living in his shoal, all with their own den and garden of coral. The inhabitants were as diverse as the coral system itself; fins and tails of all shapes, sizes and colours could be seen flittering between the bright shafts of light that pierced through the surface of the ocean. While the sunlight didn’t reach into the dens or much further down into the heart of their habitat, the bioluminescent stones and corals that naturally grew there always lit their way.

It was quite beautiful. At least, in Lance’s opinion it was.

His own home was towards the eastern side of the main rock structure. Stones that jutted out of the carved caves lit his way, along with pillars of glowing corals they’d erected to keep the passage stable. Stray fish swam in between the columns and the walls, sometimes flittering out to greet Lance and nibble along the ticklish sides of his fins. 

The eastern side of their territory was where the chasm was. Hot lava flowed dangerously close to the sea floor, sometimes bursting through in fits and bubbles that washed away and cooled quickly enough. The resulting basin made by the erratic water flow was a perfect place to incubate eggs, as the water was always just a little less than uncomfortably warm. They sat on deep, carved shelves along the basin walls, lined with soft cloths and spongy, poisonous anemones that guarded them relentlessly. As a result, due to the close proximity of the chasm, Lance’s home was always warm, too.

Hunk’s den was towards the southern side of the rock structure. To the south were their hunting grounds; they didn’t dare eat anything from their settlement out of respect for the species they shared the space with, and instead ventured out into the impossible wide stretch of space between two high rock walls. That was where most fish travelled through during their constant migration, and when out in the open ocean like that, they were considered fair game. Only the hunters and the warriors were allowed to go out further than the hunting grounds, where the sea floor completely dropped off so far down it was completely out of sight.

Lance had been close with Hunk since he was born. They hatched during the same season and were as close as any other hatch mates connected by blood, even if their parents were not the same. Though they looked completely different and acted completely different to one another, they were practically brothers, and no one would dare argue that. Their connection was evident. 

But their differences were quite obvious, and not only in appearance, though perhaps those specific differences were the most obvious. Hunk was built bigger than Lance, and his skin was a shade or two darker. His tail was long and thick, covered in gorgeous golden scales that accompanied his stocky, practical fins with complete precision. He was built for comfort and for protection, for strength and stability, though maybe his flighty personality would disagree.

Lance was built much thinner, especially in the waist, though he was just as physically strong as Hunk. His tail was covered in glittering blue scales that reached up past his waist to frame his pelvic and hip bones, and his fins were long and fluttery, just like his mother’s lacy ones. Lance’s loud personality and often distracted mind meant he might not typically have been suited to hunting with the warriors from the shoal, but that was certainly what he was doing. He would not be discouraged from it. His speed and ability to blend into the deep depths of the ocean were unparalleled, after all. A little distractedness could be forgiven. 

But the biggest difference between them, physicality aside, was Lance’s inherent desire to explore and Hunk’s inherent desire not to. Lance loved to test the boundaries of their habitat, and to go farther out into the ocean then they were allowed. He’d been above the surface of the ocean once or twice, and he’d seen humans from a far distance, sitting in their ships made of wood and metal. He loved to swim to the wrecks of their ships, and dig around until he found some sort of treasure to hoard in his collection. He loved things that glittered, and apparently so did the humans.

Even if they left their glittering trinkets to rust at the bottom of the ocean.

“Lance, I don’t think we’re meant to be this far out!” Hunk whispered, clutching his blade tightly. He looked as though he might jump at his own shadow, and it made Lance laugh quietly.

“No need to whisper, Hunk!” He declared, turning on his back to face Hunk. “There’s no one out here to hear us! Isn’t it great?”

“No!” Hunk said. “No, it is not great, it’s dangerous. We should go back!”

“I want to see the shipwreck,” Lance said, putting the poutiest pout on his face that he could. He knew it would work on Hunk, because it always did. “What if there’s something really cool there? I can add it to my collection.”

Hunk just frowned at him, looking rather worried. He swam at a slow, reluctant pace behind Lance, his eyes darting up to the surface above them every now and then. “It looks like it’s going to storm soon,” he said. “We’re too close to the surface, Lance. We should go back.”

Lance waved a hand dismissively, and turned back around. “Don’t worry about it, we’ll be fine. It’s not like we can drown or anything.”

He beat his tails a few times faster, keen to find a shipwreck. There was a large graveyard of them a couple of minute’s swim past the very edge of their southern borders. The area was infested with sharks so no rational person would venture out past the border, but Lance wasn’t afraid. The sharks had never shown any interest in him, anyway. He didn’t think they’d even ever noticed him drifting through their territory, just because the wrecks created such a complicated, silent maze. 

Eventually the dark silhouettes of the ships shifted into view. The masts jutted up high above the tangled wrecks of their wooden bodies, laden down with thick, rotten ropes and torn apart sails. When there was a small current moving through the ocean, the sails tended to billow out, creating odd shapes in the water. They were unnervingly silent. As eerie as it was, Lance kind of liked it. The inventions of the humans were quite intriguing things, however strange they happened to be. He wanted to know more.

“Lance,” Hunk tried again.

Lance ignored him, and instead headed straight towards the closest ship. He’d explored these ones countless times, but the water and the rot of the wood shifted the structures constantly, leaving new spaces to open up. As it was, he spotted a new entrance straight away, and swam towards it without hesitance. It took a bit of shoving, but he eventually managed to heave a plank of wood far enough aside to slip his entire body through. It made a startlingly dull _thunk_ as it settled against the wall of the ship. Lance tried not to think about it too much.

“Come on, Hunk!” He insisted, peering back over his shoulder. He could see Hunk hesitating at the entryway, and rolled his eyes. “You’re such a scaredy catfish,” he said, shaking his head. “Just wait there.” He could go on his own, no problem, if Hunk wanted to wait outside the graveyard of ships. 

Ahead of him was an area he’d never been able to access before. The graveyard of ships opened up in a wide, circular clearing where the cays and coral towers casted no shadow. The light beds were very prominent here, and although his instincts told him to avoid them, he shook them off. Like Hunk had said, there was a storm brewing. There was no way a human would risk sinking there ship above the graveyard when the sky was getting ready to break. Humans weren’t _that_ stupid.

A fairly in-tact ship lay ahead, its hull buried in the pale sand. It was the only ship in the middle of the light beds, and the only ship to sit in the middle of the clearing – the rest were cluttered around its edges like thrown away toys. He ignored them in favour of the ship in the centre, strangely drawn to it. He’d never seen a ship that wasn’t missing a large part of its body, so this one was somewhat of a novelty. 

There didn’t seem to be any sharks around, so after finding an entryway, he slipped inside. Dark sand crabs scuttled along the floor as his shadow passed over them, and out of the corner of his eyes he saw tiny schools of fish no bigger than his fingers dart in and out of holes in the wood. Everything was covered in a thin layer of green algae, but it was easy enough to brush away from interesting things.

Lance was elbow-deep riffling through a chest he unlocked with a piece of stone when he felt the ocean stir. It sent chills down his spine, because he knew exactly what the shift in current meant – the storm had arrived. Their shoal lived deep enough down in the ocean to avoid most of the storm currents, but the graveyard wasn’t. After he quickly pocketed a handful of strange, shiny objects into the pouch he had around his waist, he exited the ship. 

A shadow had appeared over the light bed, and it encompassed him in seconds. It startled him so much that, like a shocked fish, he darted back into the shipwreck. Shadows that big meant one of two things – a shark, and a bloody big one, or a human ship. Neither were good.

“Lance!”

“Hunk!” Lance’s stomach lurched. He peered out of one of the windows and saw Hunk sticking his upper body out the entryway Lance had entered the clearing through. “Hunk, don’t come here! Go hide!”

“And leave you? I can’t!”

“Go!” Lance insisted. The shadow grew darker and, startled, Lance drew back further into the shipwreck. “Go, Hunk! Swim back into the hunting grounds! It’s too shallow here.”

“Lance, I can’t leave you!” Hunk said. He glanced up, and pushed himself in a little further. “Swim here!”

Lance hesitated. All his life he’d been told to make sure he was never seen – it was what all the children were taught. The first words that were spoken to them after their birth was the retelling of the Sea God and his past love for humans, which had only led to betrayal and anguish. If there was anything Lance might have been afraid of, it was falling for a human. It’s why he only ever explored their wreckages, the things they had already destroyed and abandoned – it protected him from becoming one of those useless things.

“Lance!” Hunk hissed again. “Hurry!”

Clenching his fists, Lance edged towards the opening in the ship’s hull. He glanced up, and saw the bottom of a human ship on the surface of the ocean. It was large, and unbroken, which meant that it was crawling with humans. If they dropped a net, or a harpoon…

No, Lance trusted Hunk. He knew his friend wouldn’t tell him to come unless it was positively safe, so after a second later he made a break for it. A sudden, powerful shift in the current tossed him off course, but he latched onto a mast protruding from the ground to withstand it. Large hands grabbed him by the arms when he was close enough to the exit of the clearing, hauling him through it.

Out of nowhere, a chunk of wood slammed into the ship Lance had been exploring. The rotten wood caved under its weight, cracked once, and then completely collapsed. Plumes of sand rose into the air, but even through them Lance could see him– 

A human.

The ship above the graveyard was sinking, and with it were its humans.


	2. Missing Pendant

His hair was dark like the sky above the ocean at night, made darker by the water, and fell past his rounded ears to his shoulders. It was longer than Lance’s, and longer than Hunk’s, too. His skin was shockingly pale, made lighter by the murkiness of the water and the way it hardly filtered light, and he seemed incredibly fragile. His body was wrapped in strange clothing that grew heavy when wet, billowing up to reveal expanses of that pale skin of his. It did nothing to hide his stiff arms and odd lower limbs.

_That’s right, humans don’t have tails…_

Not to mention humans seemed to sink like particularly heavy rocks.

“Lance, we have to leave!” Hunk insisted, his hands firm around Lance’s forearms. He tugged, urging Lance to leave the shipwrecks, but Lance couldn’t help but hesitate. He’d never seen a human this close, never been able to make out one’s features the way he could now. Humans couldn’t breathe underwater, right? This one didn’t seem to be able to, even though there were legends that said all humans were once merfolk, before their desire for land came to be. To him now, with his eyes firmly fixed on a human, it didn’t seem like it could have ever been true.

Lance shook off Hunk’s grip. “You go,” he said, distracted. He didn’t know what possessed him to do it. His eyes just couldn’t leave the human. “I’ll follow in a minute.”

“W-wait, Lance! Lance!”

He swam into the clearing, and tilted his head up. The top of the ocean was churning furiously, throwing waves of frothy water up above and back beneath its broken surface, and a flash of light briefly illuminated the sinking ship. Ropes and planks of fractured wood were seeping into the ocean like far-reaching fingers, begging to anchor themselves in the tangled wreckage of the graveyard. If he wasn’t quick, he’d surely be crushed by one.

The human had landed against the deck of the ship Lance had been exploring. Parts of the human’s own ship had collapsed it, but in doing so had formed a flat surface big enough to catch him before he hit the sand. As Lance approached, he saw that the human’s face was scrunched up, and tiny silver bubbles were tricking out of his nose and mouth. There were no gills on the side of his neck. He really couldn’t breathe.

The human’s eyes opened. They were so dark they almost appeared indigo, and widened in something akin to disbelief as they found Lance. His mouth opened in surprise, and an outpouring of bubbles burst into the water. The human quickly covered it with both hands, but it was too late. His spine curved as he hunched over, and a plume of blood rose from a deep gash on his lower limbs, where his tail should have been.

Blood would attract sharks.

Lance swam closer, using the wreckage of the ship to pull himself down. The human backed away from him, but Lance was faster, and a stronger swimmer. He grabbed him by the arms, surprised by the muscles he felt, and hauled him upright. The human struggled, but the water made his limbs heavy, and with one powerful beat of Lance’s tail, they were both rocketing to the stormy surface. The water grew much colder the higher up he swam, but he persisted, despite how fast his heart was racing.

_Humans are the biggest tricksters of all._

Something stopped him from breaching the surface. Perhaps it was his instincts, guided by the echoing warnings of his mother’s stories that endlessly resounded around his head, the stories they all knew to be true. Perhaps it was the way the human struggled in his grip, hard enough to pull himself free and reach for a glinting knife he’d had hidden in his clothing. Perhaps it was something else, something unknown, something unnameable. Something he didn’t like.

The knife traced a line across his sternum. Startled by its coldness Lance flinched away, letting out a terrifying hiss that only just slipped past his bared teeth. The pendant he protectively wore around his neck snapped, its chain cut, and was whisked away in the agitated water – he didn’t notice. The human’s eyes grew wide at the sound, and he slashed again, recklessly and slowly. Hands thrust into the water, fingers gliding slippery across Lance’s shoulders, and frightened, he darted away. 

There were shouts from above the surface. Something heavy and solid fell through the water beside him, so Lance fell lower. The human was staring at him, though he looked woozy and confused. The searching hands grabbed him by the shoulders, then around the waist, and pulled him out of the water. Even when he was gone, Lance still felt those indigo eyes on him. He shivered just thinking of them, and reached for his pendant, only then realising it had disappeared.

His heart lurched. _The land-walkers mustn’t ever see you, or else they’ll take you from me, from all of us. Isn’t it frightening?_ It was. It was terrifying, and horrified at what he’d done, he rushed back to the sea floor, anxious to be deeper than the nets of the humans could ever reach. He should have listened to Hunk. He should have always listened to Hunk.

 

“Seriously, Lance, you could have gotten really hurt!” Hunk said. He swam as close as he could to Lance without hindering them both, and had a large, firm hand pressed against Lance’s back like he was afraid Lance would swim off again. “And a _land-walker_ saw you! What if they follow us back to the shoal? What if they figure out where we live? What if they _eat us?”_

Lance knew they wouldn’t get eaten, but Hunk’s other worries pierced their way into his mind relentlessly. He kept reaching for his necklace, and was always shocked to find it gone – in its place was instead a stinging cut that had only just stopped bleeding. Hunk had practically burst into tears seeing it, but Lance was still so dazed by the human that he hardly felt any pain at all.

Unbidden, Lance’s eyes strayed to the pendant around Hunk’s neck. To merfolk, the necklace they wore was exceptionally important. It signified their age, their responsibility. The pendants were a gift from parents, and were always handmade. They were given as a coming-of-age gift, a symbol of adulthood and trust and all the things a child desired to be. When Lance found his mate, he would gift them his pendant, and in return receive theirs. Then, together, they’d make ones for their children. The necklaces were _important,_ dammit. He wouldn’t be able to rest until he found his again.

“You can’t tell anyone about this,” Lance whispered. He glanced up at Hunk, and felt his chest tighten at the sight of Hunk’s conflicted expression. “Please, Hunk. Don’t tell anyone.”

“If they find the shoal…”

“They _won’t,”_ Lance said. “They won’t find us, we’re too deep into the ocean. Humans can’t even swim.”

Hunk still looked unsure. Above all other things, Lance hated making Hunk look like that. He considered Hunk to be his hatch mate, his brother, and had spent all his life with him. He put Hunk through a lot of things – like making him swim out to the shipwreck graveyard when he didn’t want to, for example – and yet Hunk had never once left him. There wasn’t a person more kind-hearted and loyal than Hunk, and Lance hated taking advantage of that. It was like kicking a guppy when it had just become brave enough to leave the safe confines of its home.

“What about your necklace?” Hunk asked quietly as they passed back into the safety of the southern border. “Everyone will notice it’s gone.”

“I’ll tell them that I lost it in one of the shipwrecks,” Lance said, turning his gaze down. Of course Hunk was going to do what he asked, even though it made him uncomfortable. Anxiously, Lance pressed his hand to his chest again, rubbing the spot where his pendant usually laid.

“You’ll tell them we went there?”

“I’ll tell them the truth,” Lance corrected him. “That I wanted to go there, and made you go with me even though you didn’t want to.”

“Lance…”

He shook his head, and Hunk went quiet. Instead of speaking, Hunk started to hum – the noises weren’t exactly _anything,_ but were noises that came from their second set of vocal cords. Merfolk were known for their alluring singing, and Hunk and Lance were no different. In times like these, Hunk always sung to him. Low murmurings and deep chimes and gentle echoes that were meant for Lance’s comfort and Lance’s comfort alone reverberated from far within Hunk’s chest. Lance could feel them rumbling through the water and through Hunk’s palm, still resting against his back. 

Someday, he wanted to have a song that would comfort Hunk, too. 

 

His missing pendant did not go unnoticed. The thin cut across his skin was easy to disguise with half-hearted excuses of sharp metal and tricky spaces, but the pendant was not a conversation topic so easily brushed away. Lance’s general miserableness only further pronounced its absence, after all, and its loss was like a hollow hole in his chest.

The next day, before the shoal had risen, he went back out to look for it. The corals and stones protruding from the walls along the corridors lit his way as he silently swam. He held a tiny crystal in his hands for good measure, letting it illuminate his face and the water before his eyes. The nocturnal fish didn’t particularly like it, and darted away as soon as it cast shadows, but Lance didn’t care.

Once he reached the exit, he deposited the crystal back on the ground and began the journey out to the southern hunting grounds. Although there were sentries out from the night time shift, there were many concave hollows and towers of coral to hide behind. His blue scales helped him blend into the water, and he wasn’t particularly bioluminescent, so it was easy to conceal himself.

The hunting grounds were empty. The storm seemed to have unsettled the sea bed, and there were still plumes of dusty sand drifting along its surface. Lance couldn’t even sense a single fish swimming around and, nervous, he swam as close to the floor as he dared. He contemplated swimming across the hunting grounds to the closest wall of rock, but it was quicker to cut straight through it, so that was what he did. Still, cautious of Hunk’s words, he took the long way around to the shipwreck graveyard so that he could enter it from the opposite side he normally would have.

Predictably, the storm had messed up the shipwrecks, too. The human ship from the previous night have completely sunk, and lay stacked up and slouched atop of the only other ship that had been in the middle of the clearing. If Lance had stayed in the ship when Hunk called out to him… He didn’t want to think about what would have happened. 

Something glittered in the sand. Hoping it was his pendant, he swam towards it, and plucked it from the ground. It was the human’s knife. Despite his overruling concern, Lance took a moment to look at it, and weigh it in his hands. It felt flimsy compared to the blades they used in the shoal, and would most certainly rust within days if it stayed in the salt water of the ocean. 

Unimpressed, he discarded it, and turned to face the shipwrecks. Could his pendant be trapped in there somewhere? The ocean currents hadn’t quite settled, so he supposed it could have drifted further out. He swam upwards, gliding his hands along the outer side of the wreck as he did. An opening appeared where a section of the hull had fallen away, and for a moment he peered inside. He could feel the ship creaking beneath his hands so he didn’t dare go inside.

A concerned trill spilt from his lips without him meaning for it to. The sound echoed around the graveyard before returning to his ears, unanswered. He drifted down over the other side of the ship to run his fingers through the sand, searching for his pendant. The water out here was cold and unsettled, filled with debris from out further in the ocean. It was messing with his senses, and he swore that if he thought about it hard enough then he could almost still smell the scent of the human’s blood in the water.

The sound of a rock falling made him jerk upright. It clattered against the wreckage of a ship across the clearing before falling soundlessly to the ocean floor. Lance suddenly felt like he was too far out in the open, but any sudden movement would draw attention to himself. Cautiously, he inched forwards, and angled himself into the shadows the rotting ship cast. When he swam up parallel to what was left of its hull and peered above the broken railing, there was nothing there.

Then, from above him, something fell. It clunked against the deck of the ship, and with a start he realised it was his pendant. Overwhelmed by the mere sight of it, he darted forwards, letting out a small, triumphant cheer. He gently scooped it up in his palms, but then stopped. Where did it come from?

He lifted his head. Across from him, holding onto the opposite railing of the ship, was the human with the indigo eyes. He had some sort of red helmet on, and a strange piece of clothing that clung to every edge of his body. Still, Lance could see those eyes, and he couldn’t look away. Until the human did – his eyes darted up, just for a fraction of a second, and so did Lance’s. 

A dark shadow suddenly dropped over him, from the same direction his pendant had fallen, and with an alarmed shout he realised it was a weighted net. It dragged him down to the deck and tangled up his tail so much that his scales chafed against the wood of the ship. Frantically he shoved at it, rolling, his chest heaving. “No!” He shouted, as the net suddenly tightened, pulling him upside down. “No, no! _Stop!” ___

__The pendant slipped from his grip. Lance jerked, stretching his arm through a gap in the net to reach for it as it clattered against the wood. His fingers strained and yet he still couldn’t reach it, and he let out a distressed cry._ _

__The hand that grabbed it belonged to the human. Without meaning to, Lance lifted his head to stare at him. The human watched him too, face stricken, and almost seemed to reach out his hand to grab Lance’s._ _

__And then Lance’s hand fell slack, and he was pulled to the surface._ _


	3. Rock Pool

The air burned his lungs. It was dirty and acidic, and it buried itself into every pore of his body. Lance gasped as he was dragged above the water, clawing at his throat and chest as he felt the gills on the side of his neck immediately start to dry out. Without water in his eyes they started to burn, and he let out a pained cry as he covered them with his palms. His eyesight was blurry but even so it was impossible to mistake the shapes of the humans leering over him. Panicked, he thrashed his tail, and felt it collide with something solid.

A blade stabbed into the ground beside his head, pinning the net down to the deck. Lance recoiled from it, hissing, and thrashed under the confines of the rope again. He couldn’t _breathe._

“Wait!” A voice demanded. The floorboards of the deck vibrated as someone landed on them, making Lance flinch. “He can’t breathe above water, pull the net off.”

“Don’t, he’s dangerous-”

“He won’t hurt me.”

“Keith, you can’t know that-”

Hand touched his shoulders. Baring his teeth, Lance hissed again. He was starting to feel woozy, and as a hand passed in front of his teeth, he lashed out. The taste of blood, salty and distinctly metallic, burst across his tongue. It was accompanied by a painted shout that he only distantly heard, but he squeezed his jaws tighter, desperately tearing at the net tangled in his fins. 

Fingers tasting like musty salt hooked into his mouth, pulling his teeth apart to free the arm from his bite. Those same hands dug bruises into his shoulders as he was forced onto his back, and with a last, shuddering gasp, he went limp. His blood felt like it was on fire, and a dark, painful haziness was spreading over his mind. He could feel the rope being torn from his fins, brushing his scales back the wrong way. Although it was through a haze, he felt hands press against his chest, and then his head was forced back. Air rushed into his lungs once, then twice, before the pressure on his chest returned. 

In one huge, trembling inhale, he pulled in air. It tore at his throat and made his lungs feel paper thin, but it went in. He could feel his gills closing, completely died out and covered in a thin layer of crusting salt, and it itched like crazy. When he blinked open his eyes, his head lolling back on his neck, he saw a human pulling away from him. The human’s lips were wet, and with a startled jerk, Lance found that his felt noticeably less so than they had a mere moment ago. 

_You mustn’t ever kiss one on the mouth._

Tears sprung to his eyes. They were hot, and spilled out unnaturally without the gentle currents of the ocean to soothe them away. The human met his eyes and, above water, those eyes no longer seemed as indigo as they had been. A pitiful whine slipped out from between Lance’s teeth. “What have you done…?”

 

When he woke, Lance found that he was once again underwater. He groaned as dizziness washed over him, but after a few moments it began to abate. There was dried salt in his hair and on the side of his neck where his gills were, and irritably, he scratched at them. It hurt more then he thought it would have, but he continued to scratch until he could feel the dried salt starting to flake away. It would impair his breathing if he didn’t get it all off.

He wasn’t in the ocean. Some deep, instinctual part of him told him that indefinitely. It was salt water, and it was from the ocean, but there were no currents, no scents or tastes on the water. He was perched on a rocky ledge, only a metre or so beneath the surface. No doubt the sun had burned his skin from exposure by now; the water was uncomfortably warm.

When he rolled over, he found that he was in some sort of rock pool. At its deepest point it would only just offer him some meagre comfort from the glaring heat of the sun, but the sky and the clouds were still plainly visible. Although he was tired and breathing funny, he swam a full circle around the pool, dragging his hands through the fine sand and along the bottom of the walls in search of some way out. Nothing about the formation of the rock or the texture of the sand felt natural. 

It was with an awful sinking feeling in his stomach that he realised he was well and truly trapped. This wasn’t a normal part of the ocean, and clearly wasn’t out in the open water. He couldn’t exactly leave the confines of the water to see if he could make it over the wall, either. Just dragging a hand along his gills told him that they were still dehydrated from being yanked to the surface before. God, he didn’t even have his pendant. 

Despondent, he sunk to the bottom of the pool. The silence was pressing; he couldn’t even hear the smallest squeak from a dumb fish. In fact, other than the insistent scratching of his nails against the crusted salt on his neck, there was no noise at all. He could still feel the heat of the sun unpleasantly warming the water, and even when he tucked himself into the deepest, coolest corner he could find it was unrelenting and pressing. Although he dug his tail beneath the sand and hunched as far under the wall of rock as he could, he felt no safer than before.

He really should have listened to Hunk.

But he’d never been one to back down from a challenge. Sure, he’d broken one of his society’s most pivotal rules – two, if he’d somehow bonded with one of the humans when they did that mouth-to-mouth thing before… he shivered in disgust just thinking about it – but that didn’t meant he couldn’t ever be safe. What he’d said to Hunk before was true – their shoal was too deep for humans to find, and the location was so far away from human settlements that they’d have no reason to explore it. If he could just get away…

He must have been sulking at the bottom of the pool for only an hour or two before something happened. The water was so stiff that he immediately noticed when something fell into it. Or rather, _someone._ Two someone’s. Lance recognised one as the human with the indigo eyes, but the other was completely unknown to him. He didn’t move when they sunk into the pool, and spread his fins as wide as they could go, both to appear more threatening and to hide more of his body.

The human with the indigo eyes was wearing his pendant. Lance could see it dangling from the retied cord, strung around his neck like it was some sort of trophy. The sight of it made Lance feel sick to his stomach. That pendant was only ever meant to grace his neck, and the neck of his mate. Not some human. How would Lance ever be able to give it to his mate knowing a human had tainted it like that?

The humans swam closer. They were wearing those strange bodysuits again, with helmets that covered their entire heads. Lance hissed when they came too close, a low, deep sound that travelled through the water with enough proficiency to warn them away. If they were any other sea creature, the noise would have been enough to tell them that Lance was not in the mood to be bothered. As it was, they were not sea creatures, and humans were thus turning out to be rather stupid.

Unwilling to let them near him, Lance darted away. When underwater, he was faster and stronger, even if he was as weak as he was. The pool was just big enough for him to get a decent amount of distance between him and them, and knowing they weren’t fast enough to follow was a small comfort. 

Damn, it really was hot though. Swimming had never been an effort to him, but even just moving across the small rock pool like he had felt exhausting. He could really use some shade or deeper water. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten either, and the close proximity to the sun wasn’t helping much. His body wasn’t designed to withstand the warmer temperature of surface water, after all. It was different when he was in the deep chasm by their coral dens. 

Eventually the humans disappeared again. Lance was sure he would have bit them again if they’d gotten close to him. He was far too hot and far too frustrated to deal with anything rationally. All he could think about was finding someplace cool to peacefully die, and his family. They were undoubtedly all awake now, even his littlest siblings. Would they have noticed his absence? Of course they would, Lance always made a ruckus at breakfast, just to amuse the guppies of the family. Maybe he should have left a note, or something.

Would Hunk be alright? He was the only one who knew about the humans and how Lance had lost his pendant. It wasn’t hard to think that Hunk would know Lance had gone after it. Hunk knew him the best, after all, and could sometimes predict Lance’s actions and instincts better than he himself could. He didn’t think it had been more than half a day at most since he’d been taken, so if Hunk went back to the shipwreck graveyard, he would probably still be able to smell the scent of Lance’s blood. It might only be small, just from a nick or scratch, but if it was there…

It wouldn’t help him as he was then and there, would it? Lance tried not to think about it. He just hoped Hunk wasn’t brave enough to come after him, because if he got caught too then Lance would never forgive himself. He could get himself out of this mess, but he didn’t think Hunk could.

The humans didn’t bother him for the rest of the day. By the time the sun fell, Lance was an anxious, sweaty mess. His skin was covered in a greasy sheen that he couldn’t get rid of in the stale rock pool water no matter how hard he rubbed himself against the sand. He’d managed to scratch off most of the salt on his gills, but he really wanted to roll around in a fast-paced current somewhere to fully clean himself. 

The water hardly cooled down, even without the sun. He remembered that when infants were struck by immovable fevers, their parents would often carry them to the surface so that they could expose the back of the child’s tail to the air above the water. It acted as a quick way to bring down one’s temperature, and so long as their scales didn’t try out and their gills weren’t exposed, it was a completely effective process. It was only ever done for extreme cases, but Lance considered his pretty extreme.

The cold air felt surprisingly good on his tail when he ventured up to the surface of the pool. He laid on his back and rolled, exposing his most vulnerable scales. When he dipped back down under the water, he could spend a few minutes curled around his tail, using the cold patches to cool the rest of his skin. It was tedious, but eventually he started to cool off enough that he stopped sweating. 

Of course, his stomach started to protest not soon after. When he felt far too tired to return to the surface another time, he sought out the most sheltered spot he could find and tucked himself against the rocks again. He didn’t want to sleep, but he had no choice. The humans didn’t seem as active during the night, so maybe he’d be fine. His eyes closed before he even realised what had happened.

Unfortunately, he woke up just as hot and irritated as he’d been the day before. The stale water was starting to become disgusting to breathe, and he could distinctly smell the scent of humans on the water. When he glanced around suspiciously, he didn’t find anything odd. His tail looked cleaner than it had the day before, but all his scales were still there… _Did they wipe my tail down? Why?_ It didn’t make sense, and it made him feel incredibly violated. At least he wouldn’t need to worry about getting an infection or ingrown scale, but still. Gross.

Frustratingly, the sun seemed to be hotter than the day before. He swam around restlessly, letting out small growled noises in an attempt to comfort himself. Had any of his kind been around, they would have thought the noises were a childish cry for attention, but no one was around, were they?

“Oi, fish boy!”

Correction; the humans were around. Lance glanced up as he did another round around the bottom of the pool, and frowned dismissively at the face that peered over the rock wall above the surface. He didn’t need to look further than the pendant hanging around his neck to know which human it was. 

“I know you can talk,” shouted the pendant-thief, “so why won’t you speak to me?”

There were more mutterings, but Lance stubbornly ignored them. He thought it was pretty damn obvious why he was ignoring the humans, but whatever. It was too hot to think about. 

When the sun rose to its highest point, Lance gave up on swimming. His tail was covered in that sweaty sheen again, and his skin felt flushed and sensitive. Instead of swimming, he simply threw himself down onto the sand and laid there, panting. He was seriously going to boil to death.

Suddenly, there was noise above the surface again. He peeked open one eye, and saw indigo-eyes arguing with other humans. Then, without warning, he threw something big and heavy into the pool. It sunk straight away, and seemed to anger the other humans, but Lance didn’t care. The item looked like a box, and was unlike anything he’d ever seen before. He stared at it for a stupid amount of time before he realising something else was happening.

Indigo-eyes was up to something. He moved back and forth, pushing up poles across the other side of the pool. Then, surprisingly, he threw a large cloth over them.

_He’s giving me shade…?_

Though he was reluctant, Lance dragged himself into the shade. The closer he got to the box, too, the colder it became – startled, he realised it was frozen solid. The coolness of it was so refreshing that he couldn’t help but purr, and fell straight into a content doze wrapped around it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rewrote this twice before finally getting something adequate, but I'm still not quite pleased ^^" Hopefully the next chapter will be better!


	4. Ice Box

The frozen box was mostly melted when Lance woke. It didn’t seem as though the pool had been disturbed while he dozed, which he was glad to see. Another box had been dropped in not too far away from him, so after stretching out his arms he swam across to it and proceeded to curl up around it in much the same way he’d done with the first. With the shade and the ice boxes, he was already starting to feel better.

Of course, feeling better meant that the humans seemed more interested in him. He could hear them talking above the surface again, and when he rolled over to watch them, he saw that indigo-eyes was standing by the edge of the rock pool. He had his arms crossed over his chest, his fists clenched, and he looked so miserable that Lance started to wonder which of the two of them were caged. 

Arguments aside, indigo-eyes did seem to be acting quite stubbornly. The other humans eventually turned away from him, leaving his shoulders to sag and his jaw to unclench. He turned back to the rock pool, and unceremoniously dropped down onto the shallow ledge Lance had first woken up on. “Hey, fish boy,” the human called, peering into the water, “come up here.”

Lance tried not to let out an incredulous snort, but it was really difficult. What did the human take him for, an idiot? He’d heard the tales of humans, just like all the other merfolk had upon the moment they were born. Humans were greedy and selfish, and would take his scales. They’d already taken him from his family. 

“Listen, we can’t communicate unless you put in the effort,” the human said. He sounded like he was talking through his teeth, which made Lance snicker. 

Good, he should be irritated with Lance. Lance could be the most irritating person he knew! It was high time the human realised that. Maybe he’d let Lance go if he became annoying enough. _Or maybe he’ll just kill you and skin you of your scales. Yeah, Lance, that’s what’s gonna happen if you annoy the shit out of him. Good idea._

“Fine then,” the human said, straightening. “If you’re not gonna come to me, I’ll just come to you.”

Lance didn’t see how that was possible, considering humans were fundamentally incapable of breathing underwater. He watched as indigo-eyes disappeared for a moment, before reappearing with that weird red helmet on his head. Lance peered at him, using the ice box to keep himself grounded as the human sunk beneath the water again. 

“There,” the human said, “now you can’t hide from me.”

Lance startled at the weird vibrations that buzzed through the water at the sound of the human’s voice. They echoed unnaturally, and made him press his fins flat in irritation. The human’s mouth was moving, but it seemed like the sound was coming from the helmet. How could he talk underwater, anyway? As infuriating as it was, Lance was distracted enough by the glittering of his pendant around the neck of the human that he let him sink closer. He didn’t think baring his teeth would scare this particular human off – if the bandage around his wrist was any indication, then he was already well acquainted with Lance’s bite.

“There,” the human said, as he latched onto the first ice box to keep himself steady. “Now, won’t you tell me what you eat already? You really wanna starve yourself? They’ll just throw in dead fish and leave ’em here if you don’t tell me.”

Lance growled, and made no move to go any closer. Unfortunately, his stomach growled too, and he was sure that if it was any louder the human would surely hear it.

“Fine, start with something simpler,” the human said, irritated. “I know you can speak, so at least tell me your name. Here, I’ll even tell you mine first – it’s Keith.”

Pausing, Lance considered the situation. That name certainly did sound familiar, and he realised he’d heard it when he’d first been dragged up above the surface. That meant that Keith was probably the one that had kissed him, right? Even if it wasn’t a proper kiss. Did it still count? Lance didn’t quite know what counted as a bond, and it wasn’t like it was ever explained to him. No one really knew because no one did it. As long as Keith didn’t know he could probably order Lance to do anything, then Lance would be fine.

That meant he had to give in a little, just to keep Keith off his tail. Even if he didn’t like it. “It’s Lance,” he muttered.

Keith seemed to scoff. “Alright then,” he said. His voice was still odd, and the echoing hurt Lance’s head. Humans really were just the worst. 

Lance barred his teeth again, revelling in the tiny way Keith seemed to flinch at them. “Got a problem with that, land-walker?”

“I expected something more exotic, that’s all,” Keith said. He lifted a hand to adjust something on the helmet, and then tilted his head to the side. “Better?”

This time, his voice came out sounding differently. Lance perked his head up at the different echoes – they felt more natural, and even if the lack of currents in the pool interfered with that, it wasn’t entirely unpleasant. How did he do that? 

As if he could read Lance’s mind, Keith let out an amused snort. He let go of the ice box and drifted closer, his arms clumsily padding through the water. “Here, look at this,” he said, tilting his head to the side to show off the helmet. “This lets me breathe underwater. The part here acts like a speaker, and it’s what projects my voice so you can hear it. It was too loud before, right? I adjusted the frequency, and now it’s better.”

Admittedly, it was better, but Lance wouldn’t acknowledge that. He just frowned instead. Why was Keith being so considerate of him, anyway? None of the other humans had any sort of interest in Lance’s welfare; in fact, it seemed like just the opposite was the case. Maybe he could convince Keith to let him go eventually, if he got Keith to like him enough.

“Anyway,” Keith said, “tell me what you eat, and I’ll see what I can do. I know this situation isn’t… _ideal,_ but I’m trying.”

Lance narrowed his eyes. “I’d prefer if you’d just let me go, actually,” he said snappily. “Who do you think you are, anyway? What do you even want from me?”

Keith winced, and glanced away. “Research,” he said, “if you want an honest answer. You’re a test subject.”

“A _test subject?”_

“Don’t get agitated-”

“How can I not!”

“Seriously, calm down,” Keith said, voice louder. “They monitor your vital signs and will do something if you get too rowdy.”

“What do you mean, _do something?”_

“I don’t know, shock you maybe?” Keith snapped back, clearly frustrated. “Punish you. Do something bad. If you just listen to me, then they won’t.”

Lance pushed away from the ice box, irritated. So he was being watched, then? Monitored? No wonder the humans were able to sneak into the water to clean his tail when he was asleep. They would have been able to tell when he stirred. What creeps. 

“Just slow down, Lance,” Keith said, lifting his hands defensively. “One thing at a time. You’re hungry, right? What do you eat?”

“I live in the goddamn ocean, _Keith,”_ Lance hissed, putting as much irritation into Keith’s name as he could. “What the hell do you think I eat?”

Keith winced again. “Right. Ocean. Fish. Got it. I’ll be back.”

And then he was gone again. Annoyed, Lance started to swim laps around the pool, glaring at the rock walls as he did. The pool seemed to get smaller every hour, though Lance knew rationally that it wasn’t. He was already sick of it. Didn’t humans know that water got stale, too? 

When the heat of the sun became too much, Lance returned back under the shade. The ice boxes were almost defrosted, but the water around them was chilled enough to soothe his skin. The first was all but useless, but he still hovered around the second, and took some time to scratch off the last of the crusted salt on his gills. He was still surprised by how fast they had salted over, though it didn’t particularly surprise him. His gills were made from a very thin, very sensitive skin, after all. 

Eventually Keith returned, his helmet on. He was carrying a large container, one that helped sink him to the bottom of the pool. “Live or dead?” He asked.

Lance’s nose wrinkled. “Live.” Eating a dead fish was like eating… Well, a dead fish. Unpleasant and foul tasting for sure, and certainly no fun.

“Alright,” Keith said, as he lifted the lid on the container. A small school of fish immediately darted out, and the sound of the water rushing around them filled Lance’s ears. It was small and hollow, but it was better than nothing, and it made him feel more at ease in the cramped pool. They were pretty small compared to what he hunted outside of the shoal’s dens, but they smelt adequate. As hungry as he was, he’d take anything.

And take them he did. Regardless of Keith, he shot off after the fish, finally glad to have some sort of stimulating distraction. The fish were slow and dumb and were therefore quite easy to catch, but with nothing else to do it entertained him quite a fair bit. Sinking his teeth into the fish was a pretty satisfying feeling, too. The taste was bland and the scales were gross, but Lance didn’t care. When he had one safely clutched between his teeth and a second in his hand for later, he returned to the shade and rolled onto his back to comfortably eat. 

“I hope you’re going to take the carcass out with you when you leave,” Lance said, dismissively flicking a bone at Keith, who hadn’t moved a muscle since he released the fish. “What? Catfish got your tongue?”

Keith spluttered for a moment. “What the hell,” he said.

Lance frowned. 

“I didn’t realise you were so fast, that’s all,” Keith finally admitted. He shut the fish box and drifted over to the defrosted ice box to use it as a seat. “Is the fish okay?”

“Tastes awful.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Leave the bones in here,” he said, opening the box again. “Is it fine to just let the rest swim around?”

“What, scared I’ll play with my food?” Lance taunted. “What else am I meant to do? You know it’s really quiet in this cage, right?”

“Quiet…?”

Lance rolled his eyes, and turned his back on Keith in favour of devouring the second fish. He flicked the bones of the first over his shoulder and snickered when he heard an alarmed noise come from Keith. _Good, be disgusted by the fish and leave, land-walker._ If he was going to be stuck in here, then Keith was certainly going to have to clean up after him.

“Okay, well, there’s more I have to ask you today,” Keith said. “So if you can answer my questions-”

“Why?”

“If I don’t ask, then someone else will,” Keith said. “And they won’t ask as much as they’ll demand.”

“Why are you different then?”

Keith was silent for a moment, enough so that Lance was almost tempted to look back at him. “Why didn’t you let me drown?” He suddenly asked. “If you hadn’t pulled me to the surface, you would have never gotten caught. You never would have lost this.”

At that, Lance did glance over. Keith was holding up Lance’s pendant. “You should really give that back,” Lance muttered. 

“I’ll give it back when you answer my questions,” Keith said. “Deal?”

Lance didn’t answer. He wasn’t going to make any deals with a human, not when he knew what would happen in the end. He had no idea if any sort of bond had been formed between him and Keith, and if it had then he’d be in real trouble. Best not to get himself into any more of it before he knew for sure if he was stuck with Keith.

“So why didn’t you let me drown?” Keith asked again. He was leaning closer to Lance now, and had an earnestly curious look on his face. “We’ve never come across anyone like you before, it’s why they’re so insistent on studying you – or whatever their version of studying is, anyway. You’re obviously secretive, so why risk saving me? And why go back to the shipwrecks?”

Lance thought it was pretty damn obvious why he went back, but Keith didn’t know. He didn’t know why the pendant was so important, and why Lance felt so bare without it. He couldn’t know. And Lance wouldn’t tell him, either. If he knew, then there was no doubt in Lance’s mind that Keith would use the pendant against him. Lance didn’t know what he’d do to get it back.

The other part of Keith’s insistent questioning was more difficult to figure out. Even by Keith’s reasoning, what Lance had done was stupid. He should have just left Keith to drown, and then none of this would have ever happened. He’d have his pendant, he’d be free in the ocean, and he wouldn’t have ever put any of the people he loved in danger. He’d be home.

He guessed he just didn’t have an answer, then. There was nothing in the stories about humans he’d been told that could offer any sort of explanation to his actions. Maybe he was just different. It didn’t seem so unlikely. Instead of answering Keith’s questions, he decided to ask one of his own. “Who are ‘they’?”

Keith sat up straighter, and frowned. “You mean the people that caught you?”

 _“You_ caught me,” Lance said bitterly.

Keith winced, and glanced away. At least he had the decency to look troubled by that. “The people that caught you are a part of the Galra Organisation,” he eventually said. “Their leader, Zarkon, likes to collect… things.”

So he was part of a collection, then. It made his heart sink.

“The Galra aren’t nice people,” Keith murmured, “so please don’t do anything to anger them. If they ask you a question, just answer it. If they think you’re being rebellious, they won’t even let me come near you.”

“Why do they let you near me?” Lance demanded, turning over to face him. He was tired of hearing such helpless things coming from the person who had snatched him away from his family. “You’re not so special.”

Keith’s eyes widened, just a fraction. If Lance hadn’t been looking at him so intensely, he would have never noticed. “Because,” Keith said, “you didn’t let me drown.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hadn't planned to update this so quickly, but what the hell, might as well! I was rather inspired by this today, and I ended up drawing something for it too, but it's no good, so a written post it is, haha~ Hope this chapter makes up for the poorer quality of the last! I'm really excited to sink into the plot ^^


	5. Unknown Space

Lance didn’t know why he didn’t let Keith drown. Now that Keith had brought it up, he couldn’t get it out of his mind. When he thought back to the first moment he’d seen Keith sinking beneath the waves, he couldn’t justify what had prompted his actions. He couldn’t even think up an excuse, not even a farfetched one. His upbringing dictated that he should have hidden from any human, that he should have swum in the other direction and never left the shoal again, and yet he’d done the exact opposite.

What _had_ driven him to save Keith? It all felt like a blur now, one he couldn’t recall exactly as it had happened, no matter how hard he tried. Maybe he could blame instincts – he would have saved anyone, if he could, and even if they were human, apparently. In any other case, that would have been a noble thing for him to do. In this case, all it had done was get him captured and trapped in a tiny pool.

At the end of the second day, Keith brought him another box full of live fish, which he let free. He didn’t stay for long, and was instead called back to the surface by the other humans. Lance watched them from the bottom of the pool as he nibbled on a fish. Most of them were still swimming around because he knew he’d need something to entertain himself with for the night. He liked their noise, too, even if it was dull. The little twitches and the way they swam moved the water, which was oddly comforting after spending a day with only his own movements for company.

Keith had said that the humans were monitoring him. While Lance knew nothing about human technology, there must be something around to indicate what they used, right? He knew the walls of the rock pool were too thick for him to break through or hear through, so they must be too thick for the humans to send any sort of sensor through too, right? Could human technology do that? 

It certainly was food for thought. When night fell and the humans all disappeared from the edge of his pool, he cautiously ventured to the surface. He took in a deep breath and lifted his hands to cover his gills, pressing them flat, before pushing his head above the water. 

The air cooled his skin rather quickly, but the view above the water was worth it. The first thing he saw was the ocean, glittering and choppy with waves. It was more than a hundred tail lengths away, and what stretched between the edge of his pool and the water was nothing more than rough rocks potholed with smaller rock pools. It certainly was dismal, and the sight of it sent a pang of anguish through his stomach. He never thought he’d be so homesick, and yet…

Dismal, he sunk back beneath the surface of the water to catch his breath and smooth out his gills. So he was near the ocean, then. Very near. Somehow, that knowledge only made him feel worse. If he could just get across that expanse of rock, he’d be free. He could go home. 

When he’d caught his breath, he covered his gills once more and returned to the surface. In the other direction was the human’s settlement. There was a big building perched on the very edge of the land that rose above the shallow rock pools. It reminded Lance of the ships in the shipwreck graveyard, tall and ominous and out of place. Stretched between Lance’s rock pool and the building was a confusing maze of equipment, pitched pieces of cloth that covered strange crates and boxes, and countless other small rock pools of seawater that had become trapped away from the ocean by waves. Lance could see the cloth that Keith had covered his pool with was held up by thick poles, though they didn’t look very stable.

He ducked beneath the water again and swam down to the first ice box. It was nothing more than a useless box now. He tested how heavy it was, but he could lift it, so he carried it back onto the shallow ledge he’d woken up on. He’d seen the humans use the ledge as a stepping stool, so he supposed it had been put there purposefully. The rock pool itself was probably man-made too, though it fit seamlessly into the environment. 

The second ice box was still a little cold, so he left it as it was. Grime and sweat was starting to build up on his tail again, but he didn’t exactly have a way to clean it off, and he didn’t want anyone sneaking in to do it for him again. Just thinking about that made him shiver. 

Restlessly, he started to swim circles around the pool. There had to be something he could do to stave off his boredom other than chasing fish (they were far too easy to catch for a gifted swimmer like him). There had been equipment all around the pool, right? That meant that they definitely were monitoring him like Keith had said, but how? 

There wasn’t anything in the sand. He spent a while rolling his tail in it, trying to clean off the grime. He’d probably moved the sand and displaced it elsewhere more than any ocean current ever would have. What lay beneath it, other than more sand, was hard, solid stone. Lance didn’t think even the humans could find any use for something that would cause so much effort to move.

The walls were what he explored in more depth next. He could only see by the light of the moon, but his eyes were well adjusted to dark waters, especially considering where he lived. The walls felt dense beneath his hands, and he couldn’t hear anything echoing behind them. His ears were pretty good, and even when he let out a small, inquisitive trill he didn’t get any echoes back.

Eventually, however, he came across something strange. It was higher up than his reach from the bottom of the pool – towards the surface where he didn’t usually stray if humans were out – so he wasn’t surprised he hadn’t found it before then. The rock, when he passed his hand over it, felt different. It was only minuscule, and if he hadn’t been actively searching for some difference he might not have noticed it at all. But he had, and when he inspected it closer, he found seam lines in the rock.

_Got you._

He used a bone from a fish carcass he’d left buried in the sand while he waited for Keith to come and dispose of them to wiggle into the rock. The bone was pretty weak, but he had a tight grip on it, and when the wedge of stone suddenly gave an inch he was able to slip his fingers into the gap and pull it free. It came out completely after a fell moments of tough yanking and pulling, and Lance let it sink to the bottom of the pool. Once the dust and flaked rock had cleared, a space behind the rock was exposed.

What he found was some sort of equipment. Wires and cords ran back through a small hole in the rock, most likely up to the surface. The humans must have drilled into the rock just to feed the cords down through it. He assumed some of the equipment must be wireless as they didn’t have any cords, like Keith’s helmet was, but some did. There were red, blinking lights on a few of the pieces, and he couldn’t help but stare at them all inquisitively. What did they do? Would they shock him if he touched them?

Cautiously, he reached his hand into the space. His fingers touched one of the pieces of equipment, and when it didn’t immediately zap him, he pulled it out. It was cold, and metal, and hummed ever so slightly against his skin. It was one of the ones with a blinking red light, and after turning it over a few times, he put it back dismissively.

The rest turned out to be just as uninteresting. Some buzzed, and some had buttons that he could press, though it didn’t seem like anything happened when he did. None shocked him, or even made a sound. He was quite relieved over it, actually, though seeing the proof of his lack of privacy did irritate him. If he was their captive, with no way of getting back to the ocean, why did they have to watch him like a shark? 

When he pulled all of the equipment from the hidden space, even the ones that disconnected from their cords, nothing happened. He rushed to the surface and took a deep breath before breaching up above the water. There was a rock pool only a few tail-lengths away, so one-by-one he tossed each piece of equipment into it. They sunk and clunked to the bottom with nothing more than muffled thumping noises, and as soon as that was done, and slipped back beneath the surface. He retrieved the stone wall from where it’d fallen to the bottom of the pool and pushed that back into place, too, before taking a moment to survey his work.

It looked like nothing had been disturbed, though he had no doubt the equipment would be noticed come morning. For now, he was content to rest. He sunk back down to his designated sleeping spot behind the ice box, which he’d dragged close to the rock wall so that he could curl up behind it and have his back protected by it while he slept. He made sure to bury his tail in the sand, even going so far as to pat it flat, to keep anymore grime from building up between his scales. After that was done, he closed his eyes. 

He really wanted to go home.

 

Something cold grabbed him around the arm. Lance jolted from sleep gasping, and let out a grunt of pain as he was yanked upwards. He barely had time to pull in a breath before he was dragged above the surface. Harsh air seared down through his throat and to his lungs, making him wheeze and choke. He thrashed, baring his teeth as his mind struggled to comprehend what exactly had happened.

Large, unfamiliar hands pressed him against the ground. The rocky surface was sharp and jagged; rough, uneven edges pressed into his skin and chafed against his scales, muddling his already muddled head with pain. He tried to roll over, to reach for the water or maybe for his burning gills, but more hands pinned him down by the wrists. He snarled, biting at anything he could reach.

“Hold him still,” a voice commanded. Lance didn’t recognise it.

A hand suddenly gripped him by the hair, forcing his head still. It partly obscured his view, but through the man’s fingers he could see a whole group of foreign humans holding down his tail and arms. Even when he put all his weight into rolling, he couldn’t move an inch.

“You think you can mess with our equipment and get away with it?” The man who’d spoken before said. He was standing, his not-tails beside Lance’s head. His arms were folded across his chest, and his head was held high. Lance had never wanted to hit someone more than he wanted to hit that human. “I’ve been patient, but if you’re going to be disruptive, I’ll take what I want.” He glanced at the other humans, and jerked his chin. “Do it.”

Hands dug into Lance’s tail. Chills shot up his spine, and he thrashed again. What were they going to do to his tail? He twisted his head around despite the pain it caused in his hair to stare down at his tail, where hands were pressing harsh bruises into his scales. 

Something cold pressed against him. He could feel hands prying apart his scales, and he jerked again when the cold thing slipped under one. Already he could feel the strain against his flesh, and he let out a high-pitched, warning sound. Any reasonable creature would have known to back away – it was unwise to corner a frightened shark, after all. And yet, the cold thing didn’t leave. It suddenly clamped around his scale, and then in one, sharp heave, it was torn out.

Lance _screamed._ Pain exploded up his spine so hard that he felt a spasm rock his body. He lashed out hard enough to dislodge the hands on his tail, which he immediately pulled up to clutch at. His fingers became sticky with blood within seconds.

“Stop!” A familiar voice shouted. Keith was scrambling over the rocks, his jacket only half pulled on. A human grabbed him around the waist to stop him, but Keith threw him off with ease, despite his smaller size. “What are you doing to him? Stop!”

Lance’s scale was sitting on the ground, clutched in the metal grips of a pair of bloodied, discarded tongs. It had lost all of its shine. He couldn’t keep his eyes off it, even when he was overcome by dizziness. That was his _scale._ It wasn’t attached to his _body._ A part of his body was _gone._ How could it be gone?

Keith pushed away the humans lingering around him and grabbed Lance around the waist. Without hesitation, he hauled Lance across the rocks and back over into the pool. Lance’s scales rasped against the stones, making him cry out again. And then the water was washing over him, burning its way into the open wound on his tail. He could breathe again, but the pain made it difficult.

“What did you do?” Keith shouted. He was crouched on the ledge, cradling Lance in his arms beneath the surface. 

“I took what I wanted,” the man said. He stooped to pick up Lance’s scale and pocketed it, before leaving. “Make sure it doesn’t die.”

Keith’s jaw clenched. Dazed, Lance thought that he had quite a prominent jaw line. He hadn’t noticed before, not with the helmet Keith wore. 

“Hold still, Lance,” Keith muttered. He yanked his jacket off and shoved it down to hold it against Lance’s tail, despite the blood that had already pooled in the water. He shifted his grip on Lance to lay Lance across his lap instead. Using one hand to hold his jacket, he lifted the other to press at Lance’s gills. “They’re all salted over,” he said. “Why aren’t they opening again?”

Come to think of it, Lance did think he was rasping quite a bit. Huh. He hadn’t noticed. 

Keith’s fingers scratched at the salt. Oddly enough, it felt good. “Shiro,” Keith shouted over his shoulder. “The bleeding isn’t stopping! What do I do?”

Lance closed his eyes. He thought he could hear the ocean.


	6. Scale Wound

Another human appeared beside Keith. Distantly, Lance recognised him as the human that had first sunk into his pool with Keith on day one, though he hadn’t since come back. He had a strange white strip in his hair, and a prominent scar across his nose. That wasn’t the thing that caught Lance’s attention, however. It was the fact that his right arm was completely made of metal.

“Shiro, over here,” Keith said. He adjusted his grip on Lance again, and winced when Lance let out a pitched whine. “Can you cauterize it?

“Move over,” Shiro said. His weight shifted the water, causing the clouds of blood to spread and disperse above Lance’s tail. If Lance’s eyes weren’t tricking him, Shiro’s metal hand started to glow purple as he held it poised above the water. When it dipped beneath the surface, the water fizzled. Steam rose off the surface in the same why Lance’s blood clouded through it. “It’s going to hurt, so hold him still.”

Keith’s grip tightened. His eyes turned away from the wound in Lance’s tail to find his face, where they stayed. Lance was more distracted by the glowing of Shiro’s hand than by Keith’s searching gaze. He could feel the water heating up around Shiro’s hand and it sent a spike of panic through him, but he was so disorientated that he was too slow to move out of its way.

Shiro’s fingers touched his tail. Lance cried out, thrashing, as pain rattled up his tail. Shiro’s fingers burned where they touched him and made everything sizzle with heat. The grip Keith had on him turned bruising as Lance tried to swim away, but he couldn’t move. Time passed agonizingly slowly as Shiro’s metal hand pressed into his tail, but eventually it pulled away, leaving Lance flushed and panting. It could have only been a minute, but Lance was utterly exhausted by it. The bleeding had stopped but his skin felt like it’d been dipped into the very bottom of the chasm.

“Is it closed?” Keith asked.

“It’s closed, but it needs to be treated,” Shiro said. “That kind of wound is highly likely to get infected.”

Lance thrashed again. He turned his head and sunk his teeth into Keith’s arm, desperate to get away. Keith let out a sharp sound and jerked, surprised, and as quickly as he could, Lance pushed away. Even beating his tail once hurt, and the more he moved the worse it got. Still he escaped into the farthest corner at the bottom of the pool, where he could hide behind the unfrozen ice box. 

The exposed flesh had been burned back together. Lance held trembling hands over the wound, his eyes stricken. His scale really was gone, just like that. How could it be gone? There was a hole in his tail where it should have been. Whimpering, he curled up around his tail, covering as much of it as he could with his arms.

He’d never let them take another part of him again.

 

The human’s not-tails were called _legs._ Lance could overhear them talking above the surface. He hadn’t been able to sleep at all, and drifted between a state of unconsciousness and hazy consciousness. His tail was throbbing with pain, but he knew that if the wound hadn’t been burned shut it would have been worse. He didn’t know what happened to people who lost scales, but from the amount of blood he’d lost, he was pretty sure he would have died.

Every couple of hours Keith would sink into the water, his helmet on, to approach Lance. He wasn’t threatening like the other humans, and some sick part of Lance kind of trusted him, but not in that moment. Every throb of his tail told him to hiss at Keith, to bare his teeth and flare his fins and swipe if Keith got too close. If it had been any other human, Lance might have tried to drown them. They needed those helmets, right? One well aimed swipe would crack right through it, he was sure.

He still didn’t know what stopped him from letting Keith drown. 

Towards the end of the day, more equipment was installed. The equipment was lowered into the water by ropes and set in the space from where Lance had pulled out the first lot out from. He watched it happen from over his shoulder, relieved that no one else was sent into the pool. He didn’t know what he’d do if anyone else came for him, but whatever he did would probably get him killed.

When the moon was starting to rise, Keith dropped into the pool again. He had a box in his arms that Lance had come to associate with food, and as he landed on the bottom of the pool, Keith lifted the lid. Sure enough, a small handful of fish swam out to join the others, all of which hovered nervously across the pool from Lance. He had no doubt that they could scent his blood and feared sharks, and that they were frightened by his evident aggression. 

Keith, however, had less instincts than the fish. “You have to eat something, Lance,” Keith said as he set the lid back on the box after filling it with the previous day’s bones. “There are more fish in here than yesterday.”

Lance didn’t answer. He wanted to say something snappy back, but he didn’t. He’d never been good at giving someone the silent treatment, but he thought this constituted a good reason to.

“At least let me look at your tail,” Keith said. He drifted closer, and gripped the edge of the ice box, completely ignoring Lance’s warning growls. “If it gets infected, you’ll get sick. Let me see. I promise I won’t touch.”

He really was too exhausted to argue, so Lance let Keith drift closer. Like he’d promised, Keith didn’t touch him, though if he had it certainly would have been easier for him to anchor himself. As it was, Keith sunk his hands into the sand to hold himself still.

The silence was deafening. Even the fish hardly seemed to move when Keith was around. “Will it grow back?” Keith finally asked, voice quiet.

Lance looked away, and shook his head. No, it would not grow back. His tail was permanently disfigured. What merfolk would want him for a mate when he was missing a scale? The physical pain couldn’t compare to the harsh feeling of loneliness he was suddenly hit with. Would anyone even want to have a nest with him? A litter of their own? He’d always wanted a family, a big one with lots of kids and lots of friends and everything he’d loved having when he grew up. 

“Lance,” Keith said, edging closer again, “I have to dress your wound with antibiotics. It’s medicine that will prevent an infection. Will you let me do that?”

“Don’t touch me,” Lance hissed, flinching away from the hand Keith absently reached out. “I can do it myself. Don’t touch my tail.”

Keith pursed his lips, but nodded. “I’ll be right back.”

Lance turned away. When Keith came drifting back down, he had a small, white box clasped between his hands. He returned to his place beside the ice box, and opened the box. There was a variety of glass capsules and tiny, rock-like objects sitting inside, along with white tubes. Lance didn’t recognise anything that was in the box, and none of it looked like the medicine he was used to. 

“This will need to be put over the wound,” Keith said, selecting one of the tubes. “But it needs to be cleaned and sterilised first. To do that, you’ll need to rub it down pretty hard with this. It’ll probably hurt.”

Lance shifted away. He’d had enough of pain.

“Lance, please,” Keith murmured. “I… I can’t fix any of this, except your tail. This is all I can _do.”_

There was something in his voice that made Lance still. It wasn’t often that he heard voices like that, voices that made even someone like him pause. His body had tensed to shift away from Keith again, to refuse him again, but he took a deep breath, and forced himself to stop. Keith was probably right, at least about his tail. Shiro had burned it shut, sure, but that didn’t mean an infection couldn’t set in. Closed wounds were just as dangerous as open ones when they weren’t healed, and for it to be in his tail could mean that he could lose his ability to swim.

“Okay,” he finally whispered. “Just do whatever it is you want to do.”

Keith’s eyes widened as a look of relief swept across his face. “Okay,” he said on an exhale, “okay, I can do that.”

Lance watched as Keith sunk his knees into the sand to steady himself before turning to rifle through the box again. He had a really serious look of concentration on his face, and it made Lance want to snort. Why was he so keen to help Lance anyway? He was the one to trap him, the one to lure Lance in with his pendant – which Keith was still wearing, by the way. 

“What first?” Lance asked.

“Cleaning,” Keith said. “Then sterilising.”

Lance nodded.

Keith selected what looked like a piece of white cloth and handed it over. “That’s sterilised, so use it to clean the wound. You have to make sure to get rid of everything around it.”

He took it, and glanced at his tail. The wound was charred from where it had been burned, and blood had dried around in. Salt, too, had started to crust around the surrounding scales. He knew he had to get it all off, but it was so tender he didn’t even want to move. His hands shook as he lowered the cloth to it, but even the first brush had him jerking in pain. “I can’t do it,” he said, thrusting the cloth back. “I can’t do it.”

Keith took the cloth, and frowned. He was silent for a small moment. “Do you want me to do it?” He finally asked, his words careful and slow. 

“Does it need to be done?”

Keith nodded.

Lance tensed, his fingers clenching. “Then just do it.”

Keith nodded, and shifted closer. He tentatively placed a hand down on Lance’s hip to brace himself, and ignored the way Lance flinched. Having fingers on his scales again didn’t feel good, even if he was fairly certain Keith wouldn’t suddenly yank one of them out. Cautiously, Keith lowered the cloth to wipe around the missing scale. Lance cried out as it stung his skin, his hands flashing down to grip at his tail. 

“Sorry, I’m sorry,” Keith said. Lance’s fingers had overlapped against his, and he turned them up to wrap his own around Lance’s. “I’ll be as quick as possible.”

Lance gritted his teeth, and selfishly crushed Keith’s fingers as if causing Keith pain would ease some of his. If nothing else, at least Keith didn’t mention it. 

True to his word, Keith finished cleaning the wound within a few minutes. It hurt to have his skin pulled away and roughened up, but Lance knew it had to be done. Cleaning the wound exposed its true nature, and when it was laid bare as it was, it was easier to analyse. Shiro’s hand had closed it completely, which was good. Even if the salt water crystallised on his flesh, it had most likely flushed out the wound, which would help prevent infection. Lance supposed he was lucky he hadn’t been exposed to the air for too long.

“Alright, I’m going to put this on it now,” Keith said, holding up one of the tubes. “It’s a cream that will remove any chance for infection, and keep the wound from reopening. It shouldn’t hurt too much, but try not to move, okay?”

Lance nodded. His jaw was still too clenched for him to say anything.

The cream didn’t really hurt. It was cold, and it kind of stung the areas that had been rubbed a bit too hard, but it was tolerable. “It can’t get washed away, so I’m going to cover the wound with a bandage,” Keith said. “We usually use these bandages for injured dolphins or seals, but it should work just the same on scales. It can stay on underwater.”

He nodded again, and pulled his hand away from Keith’s. He didn’t watch Keith put the bandage on, but he was kind of glad he couldn’t see his missing scale anymore. As soon as the bandage was on, he shifted his tail out of Keith’s reach. 

“I would have thought scales grow back,” Keith murmured as he packed away the medical box. “Do you have the same scales from birth?”

Lance frowned. Those sounded like research questions, so he didn’t want to answer them. His scales were precious to him, after all. He had, in fact, had them from birth, but not all of them. As their tails got bigger, their baby scales hardened, and more grew. In some ways they were just like bones, only much prettier.

“You shouldn’t touch my tail,” Lance finally said. “It’s rude.”

Keith blinked at him. “Is it? I didn’t know.”

“No, you didn’t know,” Lance muttered sourly. “Of course it’s rude, you wouldn’t want me just reaching a hand down your pants, would you? I’m not some novelty.”

Keith glanced away. He had the decency to look guilty, and that somehow satisfied Lance. Maybe if he got Keith to feel guilty enough, he could use Keith to get himself out of there. Keith seemed to feel bad about capturing Lance, in any case. “I won’t touch it again, then,” he said. “What about your other fins? Your gills?”

“They’re… different,” Lance said. “Fins can grow back, like skin, but it’s really painful, and they can be badly scarred. Gills don’t grow back, and if you mess one up, you’ll probably die.”

Keith hummed. “Can you breathe above water?”

Lance gave him a pointed look. “Are all humans idiots?”

Scowling, Keith crossed his arms. “When I… When you were first pulled up, I gave you CPR, and you sucked in a breath,” Keith said. “That was when your gills closed up, but I think oxygen got trapped beneath them. If you close them first, then go above water, I think your lungs could adjust.”

“That’s like me telling you that you can breathe underwater.”

“Just something to think about,” Keith insisted. “So think about it.”

Unfortunately, Lance _did_ think about it. He was irritated by how frequently Keith crossed his thoughts, but it was several hours later when he finally started to realise that Keith was getting at.

If he could breathe above the surface, even for a little while, then he might be able to get across the rocks and back into the ocean. 

_What a clever human._


	7. Sea God

Lance was busy trying to catch fish when Keith next dropped down into his rock pool. It had been suspiciously quiet above the surface all morning, though Lance wasn’t complaining. He could hardly swim with his tail twinging in pain on every downstroke, and while he was still just fast enough to catch the fish, he simply didn’t have the energy to.

That meant he had spent the entire morning doing nothing more than harassing the fish, a glare stuck to his face. It wasn’t a very entertaining thing to do.

And as if to add insult to injury, Keith seemed to notice his exhaustion. He had another box of fish in his hands when he dropped down, and watched them frantically swim around to join the others when released with a faint frown on his face. “You’re not eating,” he said.

“Can’t catch them,” Lance replied. He’d been swimming slow circles around the pool for hours, and the pain in his tail had become nothing but a throbbing sensation now. He craved the sweet-smelling herbal pastes that his mother would make out of deep ocean corals to help heal lacerations. They might not have worked too effectively on a missing scale scar, but he liked to think they would have helped at least a little.

Keith turned his frown on Lance. His eyes drifted down to Lance’s tail. “I’ll bandage that again today,” he said. “Does it hurt?”

“Of course it hurts.”

Keith winced, and glanced at the box he held. “Hold on, I’ll go get more fish that you can eat out of here, and find the medical kit. We should have pain medicine you can take.”

Lance watched him leave, and with a small huff he continued his swimming. He was sure the exercise would keep the wound from stiffening or healing wrong, but it was tedious and painful. He was tempted to lay down and rest, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep. He was too paranoid to close his eyes for long. In retrospect, swimming around in circles seemed like a much safer option.

Keith returned in a few minutes, carrying another fish box and the same white medical box from before. “Here,” he said, handing Lance the fish box. “Open it carefully. Make sure you eat something, alright? You’ve got to keep your energy levels up.”

While he wasn’t particularly hungry, he found that he couldn’t ignore Keith’s requests. It did sound like a pretty rational reason to eat, after all, even if he wasn’t in the mood. He did as Keith asked and carefully peeled back one corner of the lid. The fish inside were swimming about wildly, but it was easy enough for him to sink his nails into one and pull it free. As he picked at it, Keith had a look at his tail.

“Can I touch you?”

“It’s fine,” Lance said. At least Keith asked this time. “What are you going to do?”

“Take off the old bandage, for a start,” Keith said. He sunk his knees into the sand and placed a light hand on Lance’s tail to steady himself. He hooked his fingertips under the edge of the bandage and carefully peeled it away to survey the damage. “Looks like it’s healing alright,” he murmured. “It hasn’t reopened, which is good. Does it sting much?”

“Yeah.”

Keith hummed, and set to cleaning the wound in much the same way he had done the previous day, only a little gentler now. He put some sort of paste from a white tube on and around the wound, and while it stung quite a bit, Lance didn’t pull away. “This will help keep bad bacteria out,” Keith said. “I’ll still cover it, but hopefully the numbing agent in the cream will take away the pain a bit.”

“Okay.”

“You can take these, too,” Keith said as he reached it into medical box again. He pulled out a little capsule full of what looked like small, white rocks. “They’re antibiotics.”

“What?”

“They help prevent bad bacteria, like the cream,” Keith said. He twisted the lid off and shook out one of the little round rocks, careful not to let it drift away. “You swallow it.”

“What is it?”

“Oh, I guess you guys don’t have pills, right? It’s just a concentrated form of liquid medicine, basically. Usually we swallow them with a bit of water, but…” He shrugged.

Lance snorted, and took the pill from him. It hardly felt like anything, and he struggled to believe that such a small piece of medicine could do anything for such a horrible wound. He hesitated for a moment before swallowing it. He didn’t think Keith would do anything to drug him, not after he’d hinted that he wanted Lance to get away. Even if Keith had been the one to trap him, he was also the only one actively taking care of Lance.

“Try to eat some more,” Keith said. He glanced up towards the surface. “I need to start bringing them more information so they’ll leave you alone. I know you don’t want to tell me anything, but…”

Lance winced. He didn’t really want to tell anything important to Keith, but if he told Keith nothing, then they might steal his scales again. He could always lie, but something told him that that wouldn’t be wise. They’d probably be able to tell if he lied, right? Who knew what their weird machines could do.

“Are you willing to tell me anything?” Keith asked, hesitant.

Lance shrugged. “Depends on what you want to know. I don’t want to tell you anything.”

“I know,” Keith murmured. “I’ll try not to ask anything bad.”

Lance only shrugged again. He wouldn’t answer anything “bad”, as Keith put it. He’d never reveal anything about his family, his shoal or where his kind lived, not even if they took all of his scales. He’d rather die than put them in harm’s way more than he already had. 

“Okay, tell me about what you eat,” Keith said. “I mean, it’s pretty obvious, but…”

Lance waved the half-eaten fish in his hands at Keith. “Fish, obviously,” he said. “We hunt for them.”

“We?”

“A hunting party.”

“So you’re a social species, then?”

Lance shrugged.

“What do you use to catch the fish?”

“Spears or nets, mostly. We catch the smaller ones with our hands if it isn’t a large party.”

Keith nodded. “How old are you?”

Lance gave him a puzzled look. “Nineteen cycles.”

A frown touched Keith’s face. “I guess our time measurements are different. Do you know how many days a cycle would be?”

Lance shook his head. He couldn’t exactly tell Keith that they lived too far into the ocean to really be affected by the movements of the sun, could he? They followed the tidal movements instead, and told time with crystals that were far more perceptive regarding sun rays than they themselves were. 

Keith hummed again. “You can tell the seasons apart, right? Like when it’s incredibly cold or incredibly warm, and when the sea creatures have breeding seasons.”

Lance nodded. The water was affected seasonally, so he supposed he could tell how many cycles had passed by counting the seasons, too. “Nineteen winters.”

“Okay, so that means a cycle is the same length as our years, just about,” Keith said. He drifted a little closer, laying his hand on the edge of the fish box to hold himself still. “We’re about the same age then.”

That surprised Lance. Despite Keith’s sharp expression, he looked a little baby faced. If he was merfolk, Lance would have guessed he was a cycle or two younger. “So you are nineteen cycles too?”

“Something like that.”

“Okay. What else?”

“Does your species have another language?”

“Well, sort of,” Lance said. “Noises. I’m surprised that land-walkers can speak the same language as us, though. I didn’t expect it.”

Keith’s eyebrows rose. “I’m surprised we share a language too.”

“Well, we do have legends that say land-walkers used to be merfolk,” Lance said hesitantly. “Does that count as information?”

“Yes! Yes,” Keith said, leaning closer. “That’s good, that’s safe. Tell me about that?”

 _Safe?_ Well, Lance supposed it was a safe story. One couldn’t say for sure whether legends were based on facts, after all, despite Lance’s belief in it. “Well, it’s said that all of us – merfolk and land-walkers – used to live in the ocean. The Sea God protected us.”

“Sea God?”

Lance nodded. “He had a very beautiful tail, and made sure that we flourished and survived in peace.”

“What happened?”

“Some strayed from his teachings, and grew to love the land. They left the water, and shed his protection to live where he could no longer reach them. They grew – what are they called?”

“Legs?”

“Yeah, those. They became land-walkers.”

“What did the Sea God do?”

“He tried to protect them,” Lance said. “But the land-walkers had forgotten about us, and had grown to be selfish. The Sea God didn’t want to believe that his children could be cruel – he fell in love with a human, you know.”

“Did he?”

“Yes. He loved the human very much, in a different way than he loved the rest of his children. But the human was selfish, and the beauty of the Sea God’s tail made greed grow in their heart.”

“What happened?”

“The human stole the Sea God’s scales,” Lance said, looking away. “They selfishly sought out their beauty, and disfigured the Sea God. But the scales grew dim, and their beauty was gone. They were worthless without the Sea God, and without them, the Sea God felt worthless.”

Keith was quiet.

Lance sighed. “The Sea God grew very protective, and forsook the land-walkers. Merfolk honour his wishes and remain in our own habitats. We’re taught never to go near humans.”

Even though Lance told Keith the story, he didn’t tell him the entire truth – he left out the part about the power a human’s kiss could hold. He still didn’t know if he’d bonded with Keith or not, and it sort of frightened him. It hadn’t been an intentional kiss, but he didn’t know if intention was needed to create the bond or not. It was all very foreign to him.

“Thank you for telling me,” Keith said, reaching out a hand to rest his fingers across Lance’s almost without thinking. Lance hadn’t realised he’d clenched his fists, but at Keith’s touch, he was overcome with a relieved feeling. It didn’t make sense, but it was what he felt. He thought he would have welcomed any gentle touch at that point, but Keith’s was particularly welcome.

Suddenly, the surface of the water broke. Lance jerked his hand back, heart racing, as his eyes turned up. There were two unfamiliar humans sinking into the water carrying strange equipment, and it made Lance flare his fins defensively. There was a hiss building right behind his teeth.

 _No_ human could be trusted. Not even Keith. 

“Wait, calm down, Lance,” Keith said, holding his hands up. He gritted his teeth, and turned his head to face the approaching humans. “What do you want? You were told not to enter his territory!”

“He’s just a fish,” one sneered. “Boss wants measurements.”

“Now," his friend added. “Won’t hurt at all, promise.”

“Not much, anyway.”

Lance hissed, and backed away. He could outswim them, he knew he could. He wouldn’t let anyone take any part of him ever again. 

“Lance, wait-” Keith started.

Lance hissed at him too, and darted out of reach. The other humans had scary looks on their faces, and didn’t seem like they had much patience for him.

“If it won’t sit still, then we’ll collar it,” the first threatened. A sick grin had spread across his face. “That sounds like fun, doesn’t it?”

Keith’s expression turned dark, but he didn’t say anything. His eyes flickered over to Lance, then back to them again. “I’ll do it,” he said. “Just give me the equipment.”

“No can do, Kogane,” the second laughed. “Get the fish to sit still or we’ll bring out the collar and have a little fun with the shock settings.”

Lance snarled as one got too close to him. He lashed out with his tail and almost connected with the human’s chest. The force of the moving water pushed him back – Lance knew he was strong, knew he could shift the water and drown the humans with ease. The only reason he didn’t was out of fear for his scales.

“He won’t let you do it,” Keith snapped, swimming up. “Lance, come here.”

“Come here, fishy.” The second darted closer, his ugly hands outstretched to grab at Lance’s delicate fins. “We just want to have a little fun, you know?”

Lance snarled again, and swiped at him. His nails were sharp, though not pointed, but they still drew blood. Its smell polluted the water as red clouds drifted out of the cut on the human’s cheek. The human reeled, letting out a grunt as his expression turned thunderous. Lance moved to lunge again, but-

_“Lance, don’t!”_

-a voice stopped him. It was as though a switch had been flicked in him, and within the blink of an eye he froze. It was like he couldn’t breathe, like he didn’t have permission to. His limbs were frozen, his bones made from stone thicker than the ocean floor. He could feel his chest heaving with panic, but Keith’s voice just rang and rang in his head. _Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t._

He couldn’t.

Keith was panting, too. His eyes were wide, wider than they’d been before, and he kicked off of the bottom of the pool to rise to Lance’s level. His hands found Lance’s waist, and he pushed Lance behind him. “I’ll do the measurements,” he said to the other humans. His voice was sharp, and terrifyingly firm. “Give me the equipment and leave.”

“The boss will hear about this,” one human snarled as they both shoved the equipment at Keith, who struggled to catch it. Then they were gone.

Lance’s heart was racing. He still couldn’t move. His mind was racing with frightening thoughts.

_We’re bonded. He can control me._

_And he doesn’t even know._

 

Keith took his measurements, though they felt superficial. He measured Lance’s fins and tail, and even checked out his gills. Each merfolk had different measurements so Lance didn’t see what anyone would get out of them, so he didn’t say anything.

The air felt tense. Keith had his lips pursed like he was trying not to talk, but he hovered anxiously, and it was disconcerting. Before he left, he drew even closer.

“That thing we talked about,” he said, voice just barely above a whisper. “Did you think about it?”

Lance nodded, but it was only a tiny movement, small enough to go undetected.

“Tonight, then,” Keith whispered. “I can get the cameras turned off for a bit. We’ll try it out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super cool [art](http://rainbowderpyarts.tumblr.com/post/151551260588/inktober-2016-day-6-sea-monster-previous-mummy) by [rainbowderpyarts](http://rainbowderpyarts.tumblr.com/) on tumblr ^///w///^


	8. Above Water

As the moon started to rise, Lance eagerly watched the surface for any sign of Keith. Absentmindedly, he ran his fingers across his gills. There were six in total, three on each side, and his were particularly unremarkable. Some of his kind had fins branching out from them, or large scales that glitteringly proclaimed where they were. Lance’s were more subtle, he supposed. He still thought they were pretty.

Was it even possible for someone like him to breathe above water? Keith had mentioned that he’d managed to suck in a breath before, but that didn’t mean it was a viable option. Lance knew he could close his gills, despite them not being a part of his body he had any particular control over, but even then it was only like holding his breath. It wasn’t permanent.

Eventually Keith arrived. His head peered over the edge of the pool, and Lance swam up just below the surface so that Keith could see him. He knew humans couldn’t see well in the dark, not like merfolk could. Keith wasn’t wearing his usual suit tonight, and only had tight, red clothing covering his legs, which exposed a torso that was remarkably similar to Lance’s. He had his red helmet tucked under his arm.

“Good, you’re awake,” Keith said, as he caught sight of Lance. He slipped down onto the shallow ledge and pulled his helmet on over his head. After waiting a moment for it to fill with breathable air, he ducked down underneath the surface. “The cameras and equipment are all off, but they can’t stay that way for long. Pidge’s shift only lasts another hour, so we have to be quick.”

Lance frowned at him. “What is a pidge?”

“Pidge is my friend. He’s a technician.”

“Oh. Alright.”

“Have you ever tried to go above the surface before?” Keith asked. He was slipping off the ledge as he did so, and clumsily paddled through the water. 

“No, I don’t need to,” Lance said. He back peddled for a moment before aligning himself beside Keith. “Have you ever tried to breathe underwater for longer than your lungs could hold?”

“I guess not.”

“I don’t know if I can do it,” Lance said, as he slowly swam beside Keith. “What if it has some sort of unhealthy side effect?”

“Then we’ll stop,” Keith said.

Lance found it strange that Keith had never really said the word _escape._ That was what he was helping Lance do, right? There was no other way for Lance to perceive it. What would happen to Keith if Lance did get away? In any other case, Lance probably wouldn’t have cared. Keith was the human who had lured him in and trapped him, and he deserved to be punished for that, but… Lance was bonded to him. That changed things. 

Eventually Keith returned to the surface, and Lance reluctantly followed him. “Can I touch your gills?” Keith asked, holding out his hands as he sat on the shallow ledge.

Lance hesitated for a moment, before nodding. He guess that if he wanted to escape, a little personal space had to be sacrificed.

Keith’s fingers were surprisingly gentle as they touched the side of Lance’s neck. They explored the delicate skin under his jaw for a moment before sinking lower to tentatively brush against his gills. He mapped the shape of them for several moments, testing the strength and flexibility of the small ridges that marked the shape of them. “Can you control them?”

“Not really.”

“Alright, that’s fine,” Keith said. “We won’t know until we try, right? Let’s try.”

“Okay…”

The surface seemed a bit more frightening when Lance knew he was going to be trying to stay above it for more than a few moments. Keith was already pulling himself out to sit on the edge of the rock pool, but Lance lingered. When he thought of the ocean and of his family, however, he realised that it was stupid not to try. He had to do anything he could to try and get away.

Anxiously, he smoothed down his gills. After taking in a deep breath, he pushed himself up above the surface.

Trying to breathe in air _burned._ He gasped and flailed for a moment, gripping the edge of the rock pool painfully tight. He wanted to dive back under the surface, to breathe in water properly, but he knew he couldn’t. He needed to see if he could do this.

Hands suddenly gripped him by the shoulders and pushed him under. His gills ached as he sucked in gulps of water, and he scratched at them to irritably clear away the flakes of salt that had already started to form.

“You’re too panicked,” Keith said. He was still holding Lance under the water, and his hands were oddly warm. Sometime between trying to breach the surface and ducking beneath it again, Keith had taken his helmet off. “You have to take it slowly, Lance. Just breathe in and out.”

He did so, and soon found his heartrate returning to normal. “It’s a bit harder than just taking it slowly,” he muttered.

Keith snorted. “I know, I know. But take it slowly anyway.”

Lance frowned, and rubbed his fingers over his gills once more. Keith’s eyes followed the movements, and before he knew it he had Keith’s hands pressed against his skin. It was shockingly pleasant, and although the water had chilled Keith’s palms, it was nice. He rubbed his fingers along the thin spaces between Lance’s gills and smoothed them down with so much care that Lance wondered if he’d watched Lance do it a dozen times.

“Try again,” Keith coaxed.

Lance opened his eyes. He hadn’t realised that he’d closed them. “Okay,” he murmured again. The lax feeling in his bones reminded him of a full-moon lull. At the times when the moon was at its fullest and highest, the ocean always became tranquil. The silence was a welcome event in the shoal – not even starving sharks or anxious dolphins would disturb the peace, let alone any merfolk.

After pulling in another deep breath, Lance ventured up above the surface. He had Keith’s hands clasped firmly over his gills, and somehow that helped. It was still just as painful to suck in a breath of air, and he could feel his gills struggling against the pressure. He floundered for a moment, wheezing, and then Keith pushed him under again. 

This time, breathing came easier. Keith’s fingers eased away from his gills, and slowly Lance regained his breath. 

“Better?” Keith asked.

Lance nodded. He didn’t exactly know how he felt about being able to breathe above the surface – what merfolk could, after all? Was he even merfolk if he could breathe on land? – but he knew that he needed to. “I don’t know how long I’ll be able to breathe above water, if I can at all.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Keith said. He tapped his fingers against Lance’s neck. “Does this help?”

Lance nodded again. 

“Alright. Ready to try again?”

He was, so he took a deep breath and returned above the air. He could feel his head starting to spin from the difference breathing air had on him, and as he tried again, it only worsened. He tried to pull in a breath, but it could caught in his throat, and he thrashed against Keith’s hold. He craved the water, the _ocean,_ with its currents and scents and noise. Not the stale pool water he was slowly becoming accustomed to. 

A blind panic began to descend over his mind. He tried to jerk away, to find the water, but Keith had a tight grip on him. Distantly, he could feel Keith’s hands forcing his gills flat, but he still gasped and struggled. Then, all of a sudden, something soft pressed against his mouth. His lips were pried apart and hot air rushed down to his lungs, almost choking him in the process. As it was, he coughed several times, hunching over. 

Keith had kissed him again, expect it wasn’t a kiss. Lance couldn’t remember what Keith had called it before, but he’d done the same thing he had when Lance had first been removed from the ocean. Somehow, he’d breathed air into Lance’s lungs, and after the first mouthful of it had been cycled, the rest started to come. He blinked his eyes rapidly, wincing when they started to dry out, and painstakingly heaved himself out of the water.

“Okay, so I can breathe,” he croaked. He sounded awful, as though he’d swallowed an entire bag full of sand. “Alright. It’s all good. To-totally fine.”

Keith looked oddly flushed. He lifted himself off the ledge to help Lance upright, before taking a seat beside him again. “How does it feel?”

“Awful,” Lance huffed. There were burning tears in his eyes, and he couldn’t help but scratch at the skin around his lungs. “Tastes foul up here.”

A small, humourless laugh came from Keith. “I guess it does,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “How long do you think you can stay up here?”

Lance shrugged. He didn’t think he could talk for much longer; his throat felt like it had been scratched raw. Not to mention he was absolutely exhausted, too. His tail still hurt, and without any energy to catch the fish around his pool, he hadn’t eaten since morning. He really wanted to sleep, but he just didn’t feel safe enough to. 

Keith was watching him closely. “You’re not sleeping,” he said. “I can tell.”

“Did the monitors tell you that?” Lance snapped, defensive, as he rubbed his arms. The water was chilling on his skin, and it was entirely too unpleasant. He felt like he was going to completely dry out like this.

“No,” Keith murmured, glancing away. “You just seem tired.”

Lance winced. Keith sounded like he genuinely cared, and it made Lance feel weird. If Keith had noticed that he was tired, then he must have been watching out for Lance. He was the only human who seemed to care, and Lance was just about chasing him off. “It’s not like I can sleep here,” he finally rasped. 

Keith gave him a thoughtful frown. “I’ll stay here if you want to sleep,” he said. “No one else will enter the pool if they think I’m doing something important with you.”

Lance considered it. He didn’t know how much the bond would affect his way of thinking, but he felt as though Keith could be trusted on that matter. If the bond was a two-way street, then Keith must be feeling some sort of protective urge towards him too, right? Maybe Lance could give him a chance. It was better than trying to sleep without any semblance of protection, wasn’t it?

“I want to sleep,” he mumbled. “Even if it is in this gross pool.”

Keith nodded. “Okay, go try and get some rest,” he said. “I’ll be down in a minute to reapply your bandage, though.”

Slipping back beneath the water was refreshing. Lance couldn’t help but linger in the one spot for a moment, just to let his gills relax. Even if the water was sour, it felt good in his lungs.

Merfolk really were meant to be underwater, he thought. There was no better place for them. 

Eventually, he sunk to the bottom of the pool, and returned to his usual sleeping spot hidden behind the old ice box. He wanted to bury his tail in the sand, but Keith was coming down to tend to his wound, so he didn’t. Instead he curled up around his tail, his head resting on his arms. It could have only been a minute or two before Keith was sinking beneath the surface, his helmet firmly placed on his head. He had the medical kit in his hands again.

He made quick work of treating Lance’s wound and changing the bandage. It hurt less every time he did it, which Lance supposed was a good thing. After Keith had given him another antibiotic tablet, he swam back up to the surface. Lance had assumed that would be the end of it, so he closed his eyes and tried to relax. Knowing that someone was looking out for him helped.

He was on the verge of falling asleep when the water shifted again. Tiredly, he blinked open his eyes, and saw Keith sinking back down to him. His eyes followed Keith, who seemed to startle at his stare.

“I’m going to sit here,” he whispered, gripping the edge of the ice box. He was close enough that Lance almost felt like he could feel Keith’s body heat. “Try and get some rest, okay?”

Lance closed his eyes. He wondered how deep his bond with Keith ran. He always thought that it was something he would be able to feel, that it was something tangible, that it was something even the Sea God noticed. It wasn’t like that. He felt no different, until Keith ordered him to do something. There was no part of him that felt like it had been changed, at least not how he had expected. Sure, he felt compelled to do the things Keith said, and the thought of Keith being hurt made some part of his brain itch, but it wasn’t anything _dangerous._ At least, not yet it wasn’t. 

“Sleep, Lance,” Keith murmured. His hand came down to rest on Lance’s tail almost without thinking. “I know you’re still awake. Sleep.”

And he did.

 

Lance’s dreams were plagued with bad things. He dreamed of his family, and he missed them. He dreamed of the deepest parts of the ocean, where things he feared lived. He dreamed of losing all of his scales and living to tell the tale. He just wanted to go home.

Halfway through the early morning, he started to stir. It was strange to be suspended in a place between dreams and consciousness after spending so long awake, and it made him disorientated. The unclean water only served to worsen how he was feeling. He wanted to fight sleep, and to find the ocean again. He’d never craved the feel of the ocean more than he did when he was trapped between wakefulness and dreams. 

Something soothing, however, started to lull him back to sleep. At first he couldn’t make sense of it, but after a moment of restless fidgeting, he realised there was a hand tracing patterns across his back. It reminded him, faintly, of how his father would lure him back to sleep on a particularly fitful night, and it made Lance feel a little less homesick.

“Just try to sleep,” a voice whispered.

Lance blinked, trying to clear his blurry sight, but his eyelids felt heavy. “Keith?”

“It’s me,” Keith murmured. His hand stilled for a moment, before it continued to trace a line up and down his spine. “Just sleep, okay?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I drew some [fanart](http://fairydens.tumblr.com/post/151928152913/why-is-it-so-important-to-you-because-it) for this fic the other day ^^"


	9. Tense Bonds

He woke up alone, but Lance wasn’t particularly surprised. It was a hot day, and he was already sweltering. Keith had replaced the remaining ice box in the rock pool and added the second again, and they somewhat helped cool Lance down. There was a lot of commotion going on above the surface, and he didn’t know why. He was tempted to ask Keith, but there was no way he could until Keith came back beneath the surface.

When he finally did, it was only to release more fish and change Lance’s bandage. Lance felt shunned by Keith’s inattention – surely he couldn’t have imagined Keith soothing him to sleep the previous night? – but he didn’t want to get attached, so he didn’t think about it. Instead, he tried to think of practical things.

When would be a good time to escape? He knew he could breathe above water for a short while, certainly enough to get across the rocks, if only he had a way to. There was no way he could drag himself across them without tearing off all his soft belly scales. Keith didn’t exactly seemed opposed to helping him, right? He would know when a good time to escape would be, and could get his friend to turn off the cameras again.

Somehow, that seemed too easy. For one, he didn’t even know why he’d been captured in the first place. As some sort of experiment, probably, but for what purpose? As a specimen? A trophy? Both seemed as likely as the other, and neither were good for him. 

Night fell before Keith came again. He looked tired, and had dark rings around his eyes. Lance watched him from the bottom of the pool. He knew Keith couldn’t see him, that it was too dark, and for a moment he took advantage of that. There was no harm in reminding the humans that he could be dangerous, even if that human happened to be the one he was bonded to. 

“Lance?” Keith asked cautiously. “I had Pidge turn the microphones off, we can talk…”

Lance slowly swam up where the moonlight revealed his face. Keith startled at the sight of him, but didn’t swim away, not even when Lance got closer. “What is it?” He asked. “You haven’t come down all day.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Keith said. “Sendak doesn’t want me interfering with you anymore.”

“Who?”

“He’s the... boss,” Keith said hesitantly, “but not the main one. He’s employed by Zarkon to keep the rest of us in line.” 

Lance frowned.

“Either way, I have to start seeing you less,” Keith said, shaking his head. “That, or I have to start producing more results, which isn’t… it isn’t a good idea.”

“Why?”

Keith didn’t answer.

“Tell me,” Lance said. “I don’t know anything. Why am I here, Keith? What exactly do you humans want from me?”

Keith’s face twisted. He looked oddly guilty, and couldn’t meet Lance’s eyes. “They only want bad things,” he said quietly. “You’re the first of your kind they’ve been able to catch. They want to use you, to dissect you and figure out how you work inside and out. You’re nothing more than a _showpiece_ to them,” he spat.

Lance was surprised by the vehemence in Keith’s voice. It didn’t make sense that a human would side with him over other humans. Overwhelmed, Lance drifted away. “You’re the one that lured me in,” Lance said. “You stole my pendant.”

Keith’s hand jerked up to grip Lance’s pendant as if he had forgotten he was wearing it. He stared at it as it sat in his palm, before letting it go. He made no move to give it back. 

“Why are you with Zarkon?” Lance asked. “If you’re so against this, then why?”

“I had no choice,” Keith whispered. His expression had turned very troubled, and his lips were set in a thin line. “I had no choice,” he repeated.

Lance narrowed his eyes. There was always a choice, even if it felt like there wasn’t. He’d learned that the hard way, and fully believed that there was always something to do, there was always a way to make things better. “There’s _always_ a choice,” Lance murmured, his voice barely above an annoyed hiss. “What do you mean you _had no choice?”_

“It’s none of your business, Lance,” Keith snapped.

Lance growled. It was an angry sound, one he didn’t intend to emit. “You made it my business by trapping me here!” 

“Lance-”

“No!” He interrupted. “I’m sick of this, Keith. I’m not an animal, I’m not a trophy. This water is stale and the fish are foul and you humans pulled off my scales. You understand nothing, and tell me nothing, and expect me to cooperate. How about I drown you, and save myself anymore trouble?”

Keith startled, eyes widened. His hand flashed up to grip the pendant again as if it offered him comfort, and it made Lance bare his teeth. In an angry huff, Lance descended back into the shadows. That was his necklace, and his freedom that Keith treated so easily. How could he have ever believed that Keith would help him?

He was probably just an animal to Keith, too. Something to study. Why else would Keith willingly come into the tank of a creature that could kill him?

And Lance could kill him. He wasn’t just some pretty face in the shoal; he was a hunter, just like Hunk and his father were. He’d killed fish before, killed big creatures that could swim much better and much faster than humans. All he would have to do is destroy Keith’s helmet. That’s what the humans needed to breathe.

“Lance,” Keith started, reaching out into the water.

Lance growled again. It was a warning sound, one that told Keith to stay away. Lance didn’t know if he was physically capable of drowning Keith, not with their bond, but he simply didn’t want to see Keith, at least not now. He was frustrated and lonely and homesick, and Keith’s confusing signals didn’t help. What was Lance meant to do if other humans were sent into the water?

It was with an awful, twisting feeling in his chest that he listened to Keith eventually leave the pool. Somehow, without him there, Lance felt even lonelier.

 

He didn’t sleep well. Every time he almost drifted off, the ghost of Keith’s fingers would wander down his spine, and he’d find himself uncomfortable and restless. He spent the early hours of the morning swimming circles around the bottom of the pool and angrily biting into any fish that so happened to stray within his reach. He’d never missed the taste of even the ugliest ocean fish more than he did that morning. 

The sun rose quickly. It was a hot day, and Lance sweltered. He didn’t stray out from beneath the shade of the cover Keith had pitched over the rock pool, and swam from spot to spot between the two melted ice boxes. He wanted to sink into the depths of the ocean where the sun could never reach, but he could go no further than the bottom of the pool. The more he thought about it, the more irritated he became.

The surface of the water broke halfway through the morning. Lance expected Keith, but it wasn’t him who approached. Instead it was the human with the metal arm – Shiro.

Lance made a warning sound in the back of his throat and fanned his fins. He saw Shiro hesitate, but something that Lance couldn’t understand crackled through his black helmet, and he continued. He had the fish box in his hands.

“This is for you,” he said, as he hesitantly pushed the box closer. “Keith mentioned that the one’s we’ve been giving you aren’t good, so he changed them up a bit…”

Lance eyed the box wearily. When Shiro lifted the lid, a variety of different fish darted out into the pool. The normal silver ones were there, yes, but there were others too, and even one he’d eaten before. Their chatter was different to the mindless droning of the silver fish, and it filled the water with a different sound. Compared to everything else that had happened, it was pitifully comforting. 

Even more so because it had been Keith to change it.

Thinking about Keith again made him irritated. Why hadn’t Keith come to give them to him? Why send Shiro, instead? Lance eyed Shiro’s metal arm, and growled. Was it because Shiro could hurt him with that? Because it might _scare_ him? 

It didn’t. 

“Calm down, Lance,” Shiro urged, as he dropped the box and lifted his hands. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

Lance bared his teeth. Promises like that from humans meant nothing, not after they’d ripped out his scale. 

“Okay, okay, I’m going,” Shiro said, exhaling deeply.

Alone once more, Lance couldn’t help but swim angry circles again. The heat of the sun and the confined space of the pool was making him twice as agitated as usual, not to mention his fight with Keith. Was this how bonds usually became, when tense? He needed to figure out how to get rid of the bond, but the story of the Sea God hadn’t explained anything like that. The Sea God had overcome his bond due to his love for an _entire race_ of people, and no matter how much Lance loved his family, he knew it wouldn’t be enough.

Halfway through the day, one of the ice boxes was fished out so that it could be replaced with a frozen one. Lance couldn’t see either Shiro or Keith at the edge of the pool, which only irritated him further. There were other humans messing with his pool now, and it made him feel territorial. 

When night finally fell, Lance was covered in sweat and completely exhausted. He hadn’t slept since Keith had lulled him to sleep, and he didn’t see any possible way he could relax himself enough to close his eyes. He was sort of glad when he heard something come from the surface.

“Lance!” Keith whispered, sticking his hand into the water to stir it. “Lance, come up here.”

Lance wanted to ignore him, but there was intent behind Keith’s command, and he found himself responding before he really meant to. _Damn bond._ When there was just enough moonlight for Keith to see him, Lance stopped. Keith wouldn’t be able to hear anything he said when he was still above water, so Lance kept quiet. 

Keith gave him a frustrated look. “Come up here,” he insisted. “I have something I want to show you.”

Even without the bond, that made Lance curious. After sucking in a deep breath, he covered his gills with his hands and pushed himself above the surface. The air was cold and sharp down his throat, and he spluttered several times as he tried to force his lungs to adjust. He felt Keith’s fingers worm their way beneath his hands to flatten his gills, and he didn’t shake him off. 

“What do you want?” He eventually rasped. Most of his tail was resting on the shallow ledge, and he kept himself out of the water by holding onto the edge of the rock pool. It wasn’t the most comfortable position to be in. 

“I want us to be equals,” Keith said, shifting closer. “Well, as equal as we can be.”

Lance frowned at him. Keith had something sitting in his folded legs, something thick and flat. Surely Keith couldn’t be comfortable sitting on the rocks like that, so why was he bothering? “What is that?” Lance asked.

“This? It’s a book,” Keith said, holding it up. “We print information or stories in books, and used them to read.”

“What’s in it?”

“Here,” Keith said, as he put the book aside. “Dry your hands on my shirt and you can flip through it. Sorry, I didn’t bring a towel.”

Lance did as he was asked, ignoring the way Keith squirmed when Lance’s wet knuckles brushed against his pale skin. When his hands were dry, Keith gave him the book. It was a weird texture, and heavier than he expected. When he flipped it open, it was filled with papers covered with writing and pictures. “What is it about?” Lance asked.

“It’s about you,” Keith said. He rubbed the back of his neck, and reached down to flip through the pages for Lance. “Well, what we thought your people were.”

He’d flipped to a page with pictures on it. What looked pretty similar to a merfolk was drawn out and labelled with words he couldn’t read. He frowned at it, and lifted the page with tentative fingers to peer at the back. There was only writing there, so he turned back to the pictures, and traced his fingertips over the image. “This almost looks like me,” he said. The fins were different, and the structure of the tail seemed a little off, but it was close enough to reality that Lance was incredibly unsettled. 

“You were just a myth to most people,” Keith said quietly. He pulled something out form within his jacket. “Still are. The only reason Zarkon was even hunting someone like you was because of this.”

He offered Lance the paper he’d pulled from his jacket. It was an image, but not a drawing, and the paper felt glossy. It looked more realistic than the drawings, like it was taken from real life, even though Lance struggled to see what it was. It looked like a picture of a coral cay, and the blurry shape of a merfolk’s tail could just be seen disappearing between two ridges.

“No one knew if that was real or not, but I guess it was,” Keith murmured. “The rest of the stuff we thought might be real too, right? Who knows anymore...”

“What other stuff?”

Keith flipped through the book again, and held it up to show Lance paragraphs of writing and different pictures. “Well, there are these things called sirens that sing to lure sailors to their death.”

“We don’t sing, but we do have persuasive noises,” Lance said. “Mostly for children, though.”

Keith’s eyebrows went up. “Noises?”

“Purrs and sort of humming,” Lance said. “We make them when we’re happy, or when we want something.”

“Really?” Keith’s eyes were bright with curiosity.

Lance tried not to feel anything at that. “Do humans really believe this stuff?”

“Some do.”

“Humans are kind of stupid.”

Keith laughed. It was a pretty, small sound. “I’m sorry about before,” he said. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Lance just huffed. Maybe if he knew more about humans, he’d feel better. For now, he was content to listen to Keith explain his species. Maybe he’d learn to understand Keith more if they were on as equal terms as they could get.

“Oh! I think we can solve your stale water issue, too.”

Lance’s eyes widened. “How?”


	10. Lash Out

The next day, there was a flurry of activity above the surface of the rock pool. Lance had slept throughout most of the morning – the night had been spent going through Keith’s weird book before he’d finally passed out with Keith’s fingers tracing along his back again. It wasn’t the best night of sleep he’d ever gotten, but it was decent enough that when he woke, he didn’t feel like he was as weak as he had been before.

Midmorning, Keith sunk beneath the surface. He was wearing his full bodysuit and his helmet, and there was something strange in his hands. “Lance, come up here for a second and I’ll explain to you what’s happening,” he beckoned. 

Lance frowned at him, and slowly edged out from behind the ice box. It felt like it was going to be another hot day, and the two ice boxes left in the rock pool had already melted. “What is it?” He asked, as he drifted towards the surface. “It’s hotter up here…”

“Sorry, bear with it for a moment,” Keith said. “They’re going to move you out of the tank and into a saltwater one.”

Lance’s eyebrows went up. “Another tank?”

Keith’s face twisted, and he sighed. “Something like that,” he said. “I have to put this around you otherwise they won’t let you out of the pool.”

Lance narrowed his eyes. The thing Keith was holding looked like some sort of rope contraption, and he had no doubt that it was meant to go around his chest to pin his arms flat. He wouldn’t be able to defend himself as easily as he could have if his arms were left free. “I don’t want to,” Lance said, backing away a tail’s span. 

“This is the only way I can get you fresh water,” Keith said, biting his lip nervously. “I kind of told Zarkon that it was imperative to your health – which it is! – but it made a huge deal out of it.”

Something twisted in Lance’s chest. The longer he was trapped here, the more he started to like Keith. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the bond, or if it was because Keith was the only one being purposefully nice to him. Either way, a big part of him wanted to trust Keith. Something about the way he spoke was incredibly honest, though perhaps that honesty was born more of guilt than of a wish to be good. 

“Alright,” he finally muttered. “How long will it be on?”

“Only a few minutes, at most,” Keith assured him. “I’ll take it off as soon as I can.”

Lance heart pounded as Keith slipped the rope over his head. He was careful not to let it get caught on Lance’s ears or gills, and began to carefully tighten it around his chest. Lance didn’t like the feeling of not having his arms to balance him, and agitatedly, he beat his tail. He could still swim like this, sure, but it put a lot of strain on his tail, and he was suddenly very relieved to have Keith’s hands on him.

“Alright,” Keith said, as he finished securing the rope, “let’s go. There’s a small tank waiting above the surface where you’ll have to sit while it’s transported across the rock pools. It might be a little cramped.”

Lance tried not to scowl. He didn’t hate small spaces, but any human-imposed one was certainly not going to be something he enjoyed. Still, he’d already committed to it, and the thought of being able to breathe in water that wasn’t stale was very tempting. 

Keith kept a hold on his arm as they drifted to the surface. He popped out of it for a moment and spoke to the humans standing on the edge. After they’d evidently decided something, he pulled himself up and out of the water, then motioned Lance to come closer. “I’m going to lift you out of the water, so hold your breath,” he said.

Lance was about to point out that he could actually breathe above water now, but didn’t. It would be wiser not to mention that, and Keith seemed to think the same thing. Instead he sucked in a deep breath and tried not to twitch too much when Keith’s arms went around his waist and under his tail. Lance knew he was heavy, even more so out of the water, and yet Keith hardly struggled to lift him.

Between the burn of the air and his surprise at Keith’s strength, he was distracted enough that he hardly noticed the tank he was eased into. When he was underwater and he could breathe again, he took a more critical look around him. The tank was only long enough for him to sit with his tail pulled up and only just wide enough to accommodate his shoulders, with a bit of wiggle room on each side. 

Keith winced at Lance’s sour look. He was standing beside the tank, his arm stretched in. His hand was hovering over Lance’s shoulder. “Just bear with it for now,” he pleaded again. His fingers were tentative as they pressed against the back of Lance’s neck. “The tank is only temporary.”

Lance looked away. He could see the ocean from out here, and his heart ached at the sight of it. His home was out there, his family and his friends and everything he’d ever known. Anxiously, his fingers sought out his pendant, but they only grasped thin water. 

Using some sort of machine, the tank Lance was in was wobbly lifted, and carefully transported across the rocks. Lance tried to look for wherever they would be caging him next, and as they got closer and closer to the ocean, his heart began to race. There weren’t any rock pools big enough so close to the ocean, not where waves and the tide eroded the rock frequently. He couldn’t help but lean forwards anxiously, despite the way it made the small tank rock, to peer closer at the water.

Surely they wouldn’t be…?

No, he didn’t want to get his hopes up. And yet…

Keith’s fingers tightened on his shoulder as the tank was set down on the rocks. There were humans that Lance didn’t recognise moving around the small concaved area ahead of them, where the curved cliff dropped off straight into the ocean. He watched them with keen eyes as they fiddled with contraptions on either side of the ledge; there was clearly something there, but it was beneath the surface of the ocean where his eyes couldn’t see. He tried to notice any disruptions in the current, but it was too still to give away anything discernible. 

“I don’t know how permanent this will be, but it was the best I could get them to do,” Keith said. His voice was low and quiet, but Lance wasn’t listening. His eyes were strained towards the water, his ears perked. He was getting more and more restless the longer he was trapped in the smaller tank. 

He’d never realised how much the ocean called to him until he was separated from it. He craved the fresh feeling of salt water on his skin, and ached to hear the sound of sea creatures thriving between the waves. It was almost like he could taste it, and his ferocious desire to be free was starting to make his head spin. They were going to put him back in the ocean, right? He could escape. He _would_ escape.

The humans were talking again. His eyes jerked over to them, sharp and fierce. They were pointing towards the tank and the ocean, and speaking about things he didn’t understand. They had more equipment in their hands, some that were aimed towards him, and others that beeped and buzzed with lights and flashing letters. He tensed as the tank was shifted, turned sideways, and then Keith was crouching down in front of him. 

“I’m going to lift you out, so hold your breath again,” he said. He looked nervous, and his hands were shaking as he stood and reached in to loosen the rope around Lance’s chest. “Just stay calm okay? They can tell you’re getting riled up.”

Lance pursed his lips. There was a growl building in his throat, but he didn’t think it was aimed at Keith. It wasn’t aimed at anyone. He was getting riled up, and he should have expected that the humans would be monitoring him so closely, but he couldn’t help it. He felt like something was lurking beneath his skin, and the longer he was trapped away from the ocean, the worse it became.

Like before, Keith grabbed him around the waist and tail. Lance had his hands free this time, and despite the way he felt his fins twitch, he kept them still. He expected Keith to take him straight to the water but he didn’t, and the more Lance lingered in the air, the more agitated he became. He was about to gasp for air when water suddenly washed down his spine, soaking over his gills and through Keith’s clothes. He felt Keith jump, and his glove-covered fingers tightened when Lance let out a snarl.

“Hold him still,” a human demanded, voice deep and unforgiveable. There was something sharp and pointed in his hand, filled with a dark purple liquid. Lance felt Keith take a step back, but then hands were grabbing at him too, boxing him in. 

“Oi, what are you-” Keith started, but hands were on him too, keeping him from moving away.

Lance yowled as the sharp end of the object pierced his arm. He lurched in Keith’s grip, scratching across the face of the human with the sharp object. Blood burst beneath his nails, and then he was reeling forwards, thrown straight out of Keith’s arms. With the ocean in reach, he dove for it. Hands scrabbled against his scales, but they were wet from the water that had been poured over him, and he slipped straight through their grasp.

The water was _cold._ He sucked in a deep lungful of water, letting it saturate his gills and wash over his skin. He suddenly felt _itchy,_ like he was in the wrong body, and he irritably scratched along his skin as he twisted through the water. He dove straight down as far as he could go, and although there were rocks pushing up through the sand, he frantically rubbed his tail against them.

Only when the feel of human hands on him faded did he dart out forwards. He’d rucked up sand everywhere and the water was clouded because of it, but that wasn’t why he had problems seeing. Instead it was his head – it was spinning, and his eyelids were starting to become heavy. The open ocean felt so close but when he swam for it, he abruptly came across a human-built wall.

It was thick. When he bashed his hand against it he could only sense faint vibrations through the water, just enough for sound to travel through, but too much for him to break down. He rushed along the wall, trying to figure out how big and how deep it went. With a rising amount of frustration and anxiousness, he realised it spanned the entire space between the cliff curve, all the way down to the ocean floor. He frantically dug at the sand along its edges, but it seemed to go straight down into the bedrock, where he would never be able to dig it out.

He could feel something hot sizzling through his veins, and in a fit of anger he lashed out. The wall shook as his tail slammed against it, and although he felt a pained tingle rattle up his spine, he didn’t care. He could hear the noise of fish in the water, and bigger creatures just outside the bay. He let out a screech, feeling it vibrate through the water and echo around the tank. 

The cage felt like it was getting smaller and smaller with every passing breath. He snarled as he agitatedly paced the length of the tank, but his movements were slow and sluggish; uncontrollable. He slammed into the rocks without realising he’d rushed towards them, and let out another high-pitched screech. It vibrated through his lungs and rebounded off the rock walls, drilling into his ears more than it ever had before. He scratched at his ears as if that could lessen the pain and felt flakes of skin come off beneath his nails.

Someone dropped into the water. Hackles raised, Lance lashed out, snarling. His vision spun as he tried to twist himself around to face the right direction, but he could no longer tell where it was coming from. Even the echoes from his snarls and the faint, drifting sounds of the sea creatures living in the ocean did nothing to help him. In a moment of panic he called out to them, desperately hoping his pleas would reach somebody who could fix the itching beneath his skin and the fire he felt in his lungs.

“Lance!”

He thrashed again, trying to straighten himself. That… that was his name. He snarled again, flaring his fins, but they weren’t responding right, and they jerked out unevenly. He twisted through the water again, and not even the familiar feel of it soothing his skin could take away the itch in his veins.

A red blur passed in front of his eyes. Panicked, he lashed out again, dragging his nails through cloth that came apart after a moment of tension. The momentum of it unbalanced him and he always turned to swim away, but then rough hands grabbed him by the arms and pinned him still. 

Without even thinking about it he lurched forwards, sinking his sharp teeth into the column of the human’s neck. A mix of thread and blood flooded behind his teeth and turned the water coppery around his mouth and his nose. He held on as tight as he could as his entire body started to tremble, and squeezed his eyes shut as tight as they could go.

“Lance!” 

It was that voice again, but it sounded far away now.

“Lance, listen to me, keep your eyes open!” The hands around him tightened, and then they were shaking him, but not hard enough to dislodge his teeth. “Calm down, Lance!”

His body jolted at the order. He didn’t want to, he _couldn’t,_ and he tried to fight it off, but he just couldn’t.

“Lance, listen to me,” Keith repeated, “just calm down.”

His head spun. Slowly, very slowly, the pressure in his jaw receded, until only his teeth lightly rested against the deep bite mark. He tried to pull away, but his arms had gone limp, and soon enough so did his tail. Without any means to control his body, he slumped, pupils constricted and breaths laboured. He couldn’t feel his tail.

He couldn’t move.


	11. Uneasy Attitude

Keith’s arms formed a cradle around Lance’s shoulders as they both sunk to the bottom of the new tank. Although Lance could hardly keep his eyes open, he could see blood pooling around Keith’s shoulder, where his skin had been torn apart by Lance’s teeth. Keith hadn’t even winced, and a flash of guilt ran through him, but it was quickly overwhelmed by frustration.

He couldn’t move. Something was thrumming through his blood, making his limbs stiffen and fix in the position they laid in. It felt like his brain was no longer connected to his body, and the more he struggled against it, the worse it became. The sound of the ocean was nothing more than a muffled rush through his ears.

“Lay still, Lance,” Keith said. His hands in their gloves were hot on Lance’s back and waist. “Shiro! Bring me the nullifier.” He was quiet for a moment, and then a frown pulled at his face. There was a buzzing noise coming through his helmet. “What do you mean you can’t? Send Pidge down, if you have to.”

Lance didn’t understand what had happened. The burning feeling in his blood was slowly turning his limbs heavy, but his heart hadn’t stopped racing. He felt like he couldn’t suck in breathes of oxygen fast enough, let alone ask Keith anything. He settled for growling instead; the sounds were sharp and raspy, but he didn’t care. Not even the feel of the fresh ocean water was comforting.

With a wince, Keith finally reached up to touch his shoulder. Blood pooled out of the wound when he clamped his hand over it, but he didn’t jerk away. “Man, you really sunk them in, huh,” he muttered. “Might need stitches.”

There was movement above the water, and then a human dressed in a green suit like Keith’s descended into the water. They were smaller than Keith, and carried a strange, curved triangle in their hand. Lance could taste apprehension on the water, and their nervousness made him uneasy, too. A snarl rumbled through his throat, and the green human hesitated.

“Pidge, he’s not going to hurt you,” Keith snapped. “Bring me the nullifier.”

The green human was Keith’s friend, then. He didn’t look like much, but Lance didn’t trust humans, and he could feel the need to swipe at Pidge coiling beneath his skin. If he could have moved to attack, he would have. 

“Keith, you know you shouldn’t be down here,” Pidge murmured, as he grabbed onto one of the rocks on the bottom of the sea floor to steady himself. He lifted his metallic triangle, and pressed a button on it that popped open a small panel along its edge. Inside was a sharp object filled with some sort of clear liquid. It reminded Lance of what had already been stabbed into him, and he snarled again.

“Quiet, Lance,” Keith snapped. It was such a harsh command that Lance choked on his own snarls, and his chest visibly shuddered as he tried to heave in oxygen. Keith’s expression flashed from frustrated to concerned, and his hand nervously rested high up on Lance’s chest to feel the rattle of his throat, but he didn’t say anything.

Pidge handed the sharp object over. “You know how to administer it, right?”

“Of course I do.” Keith snatched up the sharp thing, and flicked off its cap with his fingers. He shuffled Lance around in his grip, resting him against this knees and chest, before feeling around the space just under Lance’s chin. “Exactly on the pulse, right?”

Pidge nodded.

A rough inhale nervously expanded Keith’s chest, before he pressed the sharp object against Lance’s neck. In one swift push he thrust the sharp end through Lance’s skin and released the liquid stored inside it, making Lance cry out in pain. It didn’t give him the same burning feeling as before, wasn’t the same type of searing ache, but it hurt. He could feel whatever was in the sharp object seeping into his veins, and he wanted to frantically claw at his chest, but he couldn’t.

“Calm down, Lance,” Keith said, as he handed the empty sharp object back to Pidge. “Look at me if you can hear me, okay? Look at me.”

Unbidden, Lance’s eyes flashed over to Keith’s. They really did look indigo, and under any other circumstance, Lance might have thought they were pretty. 

“Good,” Keith set, as he met Lance’s eyes. “You were administered a drug designed to lock down motor functions. The antidote will burn it out of your system within an hour, so just sit tight, okay? The more you struggle, the longer it will take.”

Lance didn’t really understand that. Had he been poisoned? There were fish that lived past the eastern borders of his home that were poisonous if touched, and as a child, he’d been warned away from them almost every day. There were corals, as well, that could leave a merfolk with a nasty sting or swollen welt. He could still remember how much his skin ached when he’d been stung by those corals, and how soothing his father’s hands had been as he’d rubbed a cooling salve into the burns. The ache he felt from missing them was worse than the poison burning his blood.

After fiddling with his helmet for a moment, Pidge inched closer. “Keith, you know you won’t be able to do this for much longer,” he said, as Lance’s eyes drifted shut. “You know Sendak and Zarkon are getting impatient. I can’t keep stalling them for you.”

Keith’s arms tightened around him. Lance went to protest, but found he didn’t have the energy to. “I know,” Keith said, his tone clipped, “but I haven’t figured out how to get him away yet. What am I meant to do? Let him be prodded at like some damned fish?”

Pidge made a disapproving, stiff noise. “This isn’t your responsibility,” he muttered, as though Lance couldn’t hear him, “and you know it.”

“This is my responsibility,” Keith argued. “Everything that’s happened to him is my fault, Pidge. Look at him! He’s missing a scale and he’s drugged up and in pain. How can you think I won’t do everything I can to make that better? He doesn’t deserve this. He doesn’t deserve any of this.”

Pidge sighed. It was a defeated sound. “I know, okay? I know. But that doesn’t change that this whole thing is out of your hands, or did you forget why you’re here in the first place?”

Keith stiffened, and the tension between the two humans turned cold. When Lance opened his eyes again, he saw Pidge had a pinched expression, and a scowl on his lips. Neither of them spoke again, so Lance turned his face away, and stubbornly fixed his eyes on the red stripe across the front of Keith’s suit. He’d wait until he could feel his limbs again before finding a way out.

 

Like Keith had said, it took about an hour for him to regain feeling in all his limbs. Pidge and Keith had been in and out of the water for quite a while – clearly, the other humans didn’t want to waste the opportunity, and Pidge had been taking measurements and running tests on him all afternoon. They both knew Lance would have chased him off if he had control of himself, but Pidge was careful with him, and never overstepped boundaries that others would have.

When he could move again, he avoided the humans, and the measurements stopped. They couldn’t run a measuring stick up the length of his fins if he was moving, after all. He stubbornly ignored Keith, too, as he tried to gather his wits back to him.

Although he could move, he wasn’t as fast as before. He guessed he wouldn’t be back up to speed until the next morning, at least, which frustrated him endlessly. Though it helped a little when a box full of fish were dumped into the enclosure, but they were only the dumb silver ones, and although Lance ate them he wasn’t happy about it. Now that he was in fresh, moving ocean water, he felt cheated. There was so much food just beyond that damned wall, not to mention his family and friends.

At least he was more aware of time, now. He wasn’t used to counting days by the arrival of the sun, and felt more attuned with his natural habitat when he could sense the motion of currents and the drag of the moon. The ocean tasted different on his tongue depending on the season; corals released spores at different times of the year, and animals migrated through the ocean to follow warm waters, leaving their scents behind. Lance wasn’t stupid enough to think that only a small amount of time had passed, but he was rather dismayed to realise that the full moon was approaching.

That meant he’d been stuck with the humans for longer than he’d thought.

It was a thought that hurt more than he expected. What did his family think? They must know he was missing by now, there was no way that his absence in the shoal had gone unnoticed. He had too many siblings and friends for that. Did they think he was dead? It wasn’t hard to imagine. After all this time, knowing he’d been taken by humans, or even the tide… he would assume that the missing party was dead, too.

If he did manage to get away, would they even want him back? He’d been tainted by the humans and their drugs. They’d gleaned information from him and stolen one of his scales. Lance might be too dirty to ever return to the shoal.

He just didn’t want his family to be in danger. More than anything, he wanted them to be safe and happy and healthy. He knew they would worry about him, knew they would figure out some roundabout way to blame themselves or Hunk for Lance’s own careless actions, but he hoped they wouldn’t. He hoped Hunk would be alright, too. It was Lance’s fault for going to the shipwreck graveyard when Hunk had clearly said it wasn’t a good idea.

But maybe the up and coming full moon was an opportunity he shouldn’t spurn. After all, its presence on the ocean had quite an astounding effect on people like Lance. Not only did the waters become calmer, but merfolk entered a relaxed, almost boneless state. He supposed that their voices were amplified, too, because their inhibitions were washed away with the gentle push and pull of the tide. 

When night started to fall and the water became darker, he edged up towards the surface. The wall extended at least a tail’s span above the ocean, but if he built up enough speed, he was sure he could claw his way up it. The only problem was the humans; they were monitoring him, and even though he wasn’t above the surface, he could feel their eyes on him. It was with an irritated flick of his tail that he returned to the bottom of the enclosure. 

He wondered if Keith would still want to help him after Lance had torn his shoulder apart.

 

Lance didn’t sleep that night. He felt better when the water was dark; this enclosure was deeper than the last, and had a shapeless boundary. There were more places for him to hide where he couldn’t be seen directly from the surface, and the jagged rocks along the bottom offered him some sort of security for when he did want to rest.

He hadn’t expected anyone to come down into the water during the night, but Keith did. Lance felt the water shift, and then Keith sunk into view. He was wearing his suit and helmet, but the space over his shoulder was bulkier. He probably had bandages under the suit.

“Lance?” He asked. His voice was quiet through the speakers. “Lance, where are you? I can’t see…”

He hesitated. He didn’t know if he was in the mood to tolerate Keith, but he didn’t want to reject Keith either. It may have been the bond messing with him, but Lance was starting to feel attached. It didn’t help that he could see his pendant dangling from Keith’s neck.

With some reluctance, he pushed off the ocean floor and swam up to Keith. “I’m here,” he said. 

Keith startled, but when he spotted Lance, a look akin to relief came over him. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Fine,” Lance said, hesitant. 

Keith nodded, like he had expected Lance’s short response. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I didn’t know that was going to happen.”

Lance rubbed his neck. Sometimes he swore he could still feel the sharp object in his skin. It would have hurt so much if it had scraped against his gills. “Why did they do that?”

“To control you?” Keith said, but it sounded more like a question, and a frown was coming to his face. “To stop you from lashing out, maybe? I don’t know, Lance. I don’t know why they’re doing any of this anymore.”

“Anymore,” he repeated. 

Keith winced. “I… never mind.”

Lance narrowed his eyes. The humans keeping him captive had something over Keith, didn’t they? What could they possibly have that would make Keith cooperate? It made him wary. If Keith really wasn’t going to help him, then could Lance trust him? He wanted to, but…

“Your eyes look different tonight,” Keith said. He drifted closer, oblivious to Lance’s reluctance, and reached out his hands to press his palms against Lance’s cheeks. He tilted Lance’s head, casting more of his face in the broken moonlight that pierced through the surface of the ocean. “It’s like… they’re glowing.”

Lance blinked several times. He suddenly felt nervous, like his heart was fluttering, but it was still beating steadily. “It’s the moon,” he said.

“Moon?”

“It changes the ocean. Changes us. Makes us feel different.”

Keith turned Lance’s head the other way, peering closer. “But why do your eyes glow?”

Lance glanced away. He didn’t know what to do with his hands, so they uselessly reached for the fins at his hips, smoothing them down anxiously. Keith’s touch was warm, and felt oddly unobtrusive. He wanted to lean into it, and struggled to stop himself from doing so. 

He hadn’t really ever thought about how merfolk’s eyes glowed. He knew they did, of course, but only when the depth of water became very cold and deep, or sometimes when they were stressed or upset. “It’s biological,” he finally said, because it was. He was tense and frazzled, and the pull of the moon was starting to muddle his brain. In front of Keith, he suddenly felt incredibly self-conscious. “Is it bad?” He muttered.

Keith’s eyes widened, like he couldn’t possibly believe Lance thought such a thing. His expression was soft, somehow; addicting to look at. “No,” he said, “it’s beautiful.”


	12. Whale Song

Lance dreamed of his family that night. His sleep was restless and disturbed, but it was more than the haunted faces of his loved ones that kept him troubled. Not only was the full moon looming, but Keith’s strange actions tormented him.

_It’s beautiful._

Lance dragged a hand down his face, and rolled over. Sand kicked up around his tail, then settled a moment later. It was unnatural for a human to say something like that. He didn’t understand how a human could ever thinking something like that about a creature that could kill them. Was it the bond? Lance didn’t think it went both ways; there had been nothing about that in any of the stories he’d been told about the Sea God.

During the morning, when the sun had only just pulled up above the horizon, Pidge dropped down into the enclosure. He was completely suited up, including his green helmet, and he had that same triangular object in his hand. Lance eyed him suspiciously, and growled when Pidge drifted too close. Without the cover of night, it was easier for the humans to see him, even when he stayed pressed against the sun at the bottom of the enclosure.

“I need to take your readings,” Pidge said, when Lance moved away from him. “Hold still.”

Lance bared his teeth. He didn’t like the look of the thing Pidge was holding. He knew that panels on it could open up and conceal things, like it had concealed the medicine Keith gave him. There was no way to tell what Pidge was hiding in there, and it put him on edge.

Pidge noticed his apprehension, and flippantly held up the device. “You curious about this? It’s quite a handy piece of equipment.”

Lance frowned, and narrowed his eyes. He was curious, of course, but it was a curiosity born from apprehension and not any need to know specifics. Maybe if he knew, though, he could protect himself against it…

“It’s called a Bayard,” Pidge said, when Lance made no comment. “My brother designed it, actually…”

The way Pidge spoke made Lance’s hackles perk up, but not in a particularly bad way. Keith had never spoken about his family, and somehow it had escaped Lance’s minds that perhaps humans had family units just like he did. The way Pidge spoke of his brother was fondly, in the same way Lance might talk about his, but something was… off. 

“Either way, it performs a variety of tasks with little energy consumption needed,” Pidge continued. He turned the Bayard over so that he could grip one edge along the middle strip. “It can perform as a weapon, obviously.”

Lance bared his teeth again. The Bayard was starting to make a buzzing noise, which caused the water around it to vibrate. The green strip along its edge began to glow. “Stop that,” he growled.

Pidge snorted, and deactivated the Bayard. The buzzing stopped, and the glow died down. “You can’t expect me to enter your territory without something to defend myself with,” Pidge said indignantly. “I’m not like Keith, and I don’t trust you at all.”

That seemed reasonable, considering Lance was a dangerous sea creature. He was surprised that Pidge could admit it, but it didn’t make him like Pidge anymore. If he were being honest, he was more surprised about Pidge thinking Keith trusted him. It was true that Lance had never seen Keith come into the pool with a Bayard or weapon of his own, but who was to stay that he didn’t have one concealed? Lance clearly didn’t know much about human technology. 

“Either way, this thing stays,” Pidge continued, as he gestured with the Bayard. “It stores my equipment and can run close-range diagnostics. Plus it’s small and light, and it’s easy to handle. So hold still while I do my work and we won’t have any problems, alright?”

“What are you going to do?” Lance finally relented. He didn’t let Pidge any closer, not yet, but he really didn’t want to test out that Bayard, either. 

Pidge pursed his lips. “We’ve taken all of your measurements, but we can’t do internal scans without sedating you and using an x-ray machine. Keith isn’t letting us do that – he says the radiation will mess with you or something, even though it’s fine on humans, and I know he’s lying – so I have to do external scans with my Bayard instead.”

There was so much of that that Lance didn’t understand. What he did understand, however, didn’t sound good. It was incredibly invasive, and more than that, he felt incredibly violated. He didn’t even know the exact length of his fins or his limbs, let alone any of his internal organs. “Why do you need to know that?” He said, as he shifted away from Pidge.

“What do you mean?” Pidge frowned. “You’re a completely new species, completely unknown. Humans are naturally inclined to study things they don’t know.”

“How brazen of you,” Lance sneered. “How about I open you up and study your insides, too?”

Although it was small, Pidge flinched. Lance’s sharp eyes caught sight of it, and he couldn’t help but sneer again. Pidge seemed unruffled, but that wasn’t how he really felt. “No need to get snappy,” Pidge muttered. “It’s either I do it with this little thing, or you get hauled out of the water and strapped to the table like last night’s dinner. Your choice.”

Lance turned away. He was done being studied like an animal. If he could manage to keep himself in the water, then he’d have the upper hand. There was no way Pidge could out swim him, not even with his Bayard. 

A faint noise from the other side of the wall distracted him. He drifted towards it, frowning, and pressed his hands against the concrete. That noise was familiar, but his ears were straining to pick it up coherently. Irritated, he paced the length of the wall, and sent out a probing trill.

“What is it?” Pidge asked. He looked faintly concerned about Lance’s behaviour, and was starting to move closer to the surface, his back against the rocks. 

Something was out there. Lance waited for his cry to be answered, and after a stretched moment of silence, something soft came back. It was a sound he knew very well.

The sound of whales.

It was a simple thing, something he’d always taken advantage of, but when he realised what the noises were, his heart lurched. It had been so long since he’d interacted with anything other than humans and dumb fish that he suddenly wished he was tucked beneath the whale’s fin, like the younger merfolk liked to do when a pod drifted through their shoal. It was a childish urge, but before all this he’d been a childish person. 

A crackling sound came from Pidge’s helmet. “No, Shiro,” Pidge murmured after a short moment, “he’s acting odd. Is something out there?”

Lance could hardly hear him. His attention had focused solely on what was out there and the fact that he couldn’t reach it. Where were the whales going, at this point in the season? Would they be the whales that had passed though his shoal once, maybe even twice before? Could they guide him back home?

He pressed his palms harder against the walls.

 _“Whales?_ What are whales doing here at this time of the year?” Pidge sounded incredulous. “Are they going to come any closer?”

After a moment, Pidge ascended out of the water, and Lance was left alone with his quiet thoughts. The whales were too far away to communicate properly, and although he wanted to cry out to them again, he didn’t want them getting close to the humans and their walls. Humans seemed frightfully fond about killing things from the ocean, after all – he knew about the tales of humans harpooning gentle whales and slaughtering seals and culling sharks who strayed too close to beaches. 

It was with a lot of reluctance that he pulled away from the wall and muffled the cries building up in his chest.

Keith dropped down into the enclosure sometime after Pidge had left. He had a Bayard this time too, though it was red in colour instead of green. He didn’t carry it like Pidge carried it; it was loose in his hand, and completely powered down. He almost looked like he wanted to drop it.

“What are you doing?” Keith asked, puzzled, as his eyes followed Lance.

He was pacing. There was little else to do, even in the new enclosure. He’d already prowled around every corner looking for a way out, and carved a space in the sand between sharp rocks to sleep in. “Are you here to probe at my insides too?”

Keith looked startled at the accusation. He glanced at the Bayard in his hand before sighing, and clipping it to a part of his suit at his thigh. “I guess,” he said. “Sendak isn’t here yet, so I convinced Shiro to let me sneak in down here. If I can just get the readings before Sendak comes, then-”

“Then what?” Lance said, sour. “You won’t drag me out of the water and force me to comply? Drug me up again?”

Keith’s face fell. “I don’t want you to get hurt anymore.”

Something in Lance… changed. He paused in his pacing, and glanced up at Keith, feeling oddly stricken. Had his words hurt Keith? But why would Keith say something like that? “Why?” He asked, voice small.

The question was unassuming, but it made Keith flinch. He looked vulnerable, and for a brief moment Lance wondered if he would cry. He wouldn’t, but it was a thought that troubled him. “What do you mean, ‘why’?” Keith asked. His voice came out scratchy from his helmet speakers. “Why would I _want_ you to get hurt anymore?”

As if drawn by the tide, Lance drifted closer. There was something different about Keith. “You’re acting strange,” he said, but it wasn’t accusatory. He was perhaps a little more curious than he should have been, but he couldn’t help himself. He was pulled to Keith in the same way the ocean was pulled towards the moon.

“Am I?” Keith muttered. He was holding Lance’s pendant tightly between his curled fingers, like he was afraid he might lose it. “I’m just acting human.”

_Human._

“I don’t know what it means to be human,” Lance said.

Keith’s hands came up to touch Lance’s neck, just under his jaw and above his gills. “You don’t need to,” he said. He still worse those gloves, but his touch was gentle, and Lance could feel Keith’s fingertips lightly pressing into his skin. “I prefer that you’re not like us.”

Lance hummed, and tilted his face into Keith’s hands. He couldn’t quite meet Keith’s eyes, but it didn’t feel like it was something that was necessary. Maybe it was the pendant messing with Keith, messing with Lance too, but… but he stupidly hoped it wasn’t.

The sound of whales broke the reverie. It was only a faint noise, but it had Lance jerking away from Keith. He could hear them in the distance again, but they sounded like they’d moved closer. Was it because he’d called out to them before? They were intelligent creatures, and were always friendly with merfolk, even if their hunting territories happened to overlap.

“Lance? What’s the matter?”

Lance bit the inside of his cheek. He moved away from Keith, outside the reach of his distracting hands, and turned his head away. “Do your tests,” he said.

Keith blinked several times as a confused frown tugged at his lips. He looked like he was going to say something, but then thought better of it and closed his mouth. “Alright,” he said. “It won’t hurt, but you need to stay as still as you can. Will you lie on the sand for me?”

He did as he was asked. Although Lance ended up on his side with his back to Keith, he wasn’t asked to move. He just couldn’t face Keith, not when he felt so mixed up inside. 

Keith’s Bayard made a buzzing noise as its edge started to glow red. A panel on its widest side lit up as a rectangular sheet of light fell onto Lance’s abdomen. Keith’s hand came to rest on his hip, where his skin met soft, blue scales, to steady himself against the motion of the water. Like he had said, the ray of light didn’t hurt at all, and was easy to ignore when Lance closed his eyes.

He didn’t know how the ray of light was going to be able to get measurements of his internal organs. He only knew about what he’d been taught in school – about his heart, his lungs and their water-proof coating, and of course his reproductive organs. It was all basic stuff, he supposed, compared to what the humans wanted to know. 

When the beam reached his collarbones, it turned off, and the Bayard powered down. Lance thought Keith would leave him be after that, but he didn’t. Instead, Keith’s helmet suddenly pressed in the open space between Lance’s head and shoulder. The glass of the screen was cold against his ear and gills, but Keith’s body was warm as he hovered over Lance.

“Can you come to the surface for a moment?”

Something in Keith’s voice had him obeying. It wasn’t a command, or even a suggestion, but Lance followed it helplessly. 

The air was sharp in his lungs as he breached the surface. As water ran from his gills and dripped from his hair he tried to catch his breath. It took a moment, but eventually he managed.

Keith’s helmet came off with a clicking noise. “I can talk to you here without anyone overhearing through this thing,” he said quietly. “No one will make their rounds for a few more minutes.”

“What is it?” Lance croaked.

Keith hesitated, and then let out a rushed exhale. “You said something about the moon before,” he said. “That it changes you.”

Lance frowned, but nodded. “I did,” he said.

“It’s only three days away,” Keith told him. He reached up and set his helmet as far along the rocky ledge as he could reach before sinking back into the water. “Are you thinking of trying to escape when it hits?”

A shock of panic went through him. “Why?”

“Because there’s something you’re not telling me about it,” Keith said, “but I don’t expect you to share. I want to help.”

Lance’s heart was racing. “Help?”

“Help you escape,” Keith said. “Whatever you can do is making you confident enough to try and escape, right? Then let me help you.”

“But why?”

Keith hesitated for a moment. He glanced over his shoulder as if he expected someone to be there, then hunched closer, and glanced up at Lance with worried, indigo eyes. “Take me with you.”


	13. Warning Cries

_Take him with me? There’s no way I can!_

“Not all the way back to your home,” Keith was quick to say, as he spotted the apprehensive look on Lance’s face, “but away from here. I can’t… I don’t want to stay here anymore.”

Something tight had taken a grip on Lance’s chest and was squeezing. Was it the bond? Something else? He didn’t know, but whatever it was, it was making him become increasingly concerned. “Why?”

Keith opened his mouth to speak, but something stopped him. For the first time, Lance saw a flicker of something akin to fear go through his eyes, but it disappeared in a moment. “I just don’t,” he muttered. “I’ll explain it later, when we have more time, okay?”

It sounded like a hollow promise, and Lance wanted to protest, but he nodded instead. He was too shocked by Keith’s request to really register what Keith was telling him, but he was aware enough to realise that maybe something he had no idea about was going on with these people and Keith. If Keith didn’t like them, or if they had something over him, it would certainly explain why he was so willing to help Lance.

Keith glanced back up over the ledge, and quickly ducked back down. “Will you at least think about it?” He pleaded. “I know I can help you.”

Somehow, Lance was starting to believe him.

 

The water was hot during the day. Lance lingered at the bottom of the enclosure, shuffling around sand in an attempt to make the most comfortable place possible to rest. He could hear people moving above the surface, but no one came down to bother him, despite the argumentative tones that travelled through the water. He could hear the whales too, drifting closer, their sounds insistent.

He wondered what Keith had in mind when it came to escaping. If he were being honest, he didn’t really have much of a plan, either. It was quite a gamble to escape during the full moon, but now that Keith had cottoned on to his thoughts, he felt like he might as well take advantage of the opportunity.

The only problem was that the full moon would make him… _dreamy._ Hazy, loose minded, a little drifty. It was hard to explain, but the full moon loosened his bones and lowered his inhibitions. He wouldn’t sense danger as much as he normally would, and he would be more willing to take risks he otherwise never would have. When he was in the shoal, it had led to a lot of lazing around and playing with fish he should probably leave alone.

Out here, he didn’t know what it meant. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

But it did make him more confident. Merfolk gained a certain… charm while under the moon’s influence. They spoke slower, moved slower, and were typically quite a bit more sensual in everything they did. Beauty was already a deeply ingrained part of their species – they valued scales and everyone liked the prettier colours, after all – but the moon amplified it.

Keith had said that the full moon was three days away. With the moon rising again, that meant there were only two days left. A flutter of nervousness went through him at the thought of it, but he was already being affected by its pull, so after taking in a deep breath, he started to swim along the length of the wall again.

With night drawing in, the whales were growing louder. He could hear their gentle songs, and it somehow reassured him. Whales, no matter what kind, would never hurt merfolk. They had a connection that was unlike any other – the creatures were wildly intelligent, and there were tales that said they used to be the faithful companions of the Sea God. In his absence, they overwatched the merfolk.

To humans, however, they were probably terrifying.

Keith dropped back into the tank when the moon had risen. He lingered where the moonlight could reach, and patiently waited for Lance to come up from the bottom of the enclosure. It took him a moment longer than usual to notice Keith, or at least to register that Keith was waiting for him.

“Do you know how fast you can swim?” Keith asked, as Lance drew closer.

“Fast,” Lance said. He was one of the fastest in the shoal. “But I don’t know human measurements.”

Keith nodded. He fiddled with his helmet speakers for a second, before letting out a deep exhale. “If I prepare a boat, do you think you could keep up?”

“I don’t know.”

Keith frowned. He glanced around Lance at his tail, and then his eyes moved to Lance’s gills. “You may be able to breathe on the boat for a little while, but I don’t see that being a successful idea.”

“Why do I need to be on the boat?”

“The research team has heat tracking sensors all over this coastline,” Keith said. “It can follow your mass way out into the ocean, and if you can’t outswim it, then you can’t get away.”

Lance frowned too. That didn’t sound good, and he didn’t know if he could outswim whatever equipment the humans had. Even if he swam deep down into the colder waters, he didn’t think he could avoid being detected, but… “I think I know how to avoid that,” Lance said.

Keith’s eyebrows rose. “Does it have something to do with the moon?”

Lance stayed quiet. He wasn’t sure if what he had in mind would work, but Keith didn’t need to know that. He just needed to get out. He’d take any chance Keith could give him.

“Okay, then that’s what we’ll do,” Keith said. “I can get a boat, and then… This will have to happen at night, when the guards change shifts.” He paused for a moment, and a troubled look came over his face. “This is going to be really dangerous,” he whispered. “I don’t know if it’ll work, Lance.”

He didn’t know either, but he couldn’t stay here. Now that the idea of escape had started to take root, he would try, no matter what. It didn’t matter if it got him killed, because he knew he would eventually be killed here if he stayed. It was a troubling thought, one that left him feeling anxious. 

“I can’t stay for much longer,” Keith said, “but stay at the bottom of the tank, okay? Cameras don’t transmit visual images as well down there, only thermal ones. I’ve been getting Pidge to feed me information, but we don’t know if there are any big tests planned for the next few days. If they start to sense a change in you, they might bump forwards anything they have planned.”

“Stay out of sight, got it,” Lance murmured.

“When the full moon rises, then we’ll leave,” Keith said. He didn’t sound confident. “Just leave everything to me, alright? I’ll figure it out.”

“Okay.”

Keith touched his cheek with a gentle hand, but drew away as soon as he realised what he’d done, and left.

Even if he agreed with what Keith said, that didn’t stop Lance from thinking about what he himself was going to do. He had to figure out a way to get out of the tank, first and foremost. With guards always on patrol, he would have to leave it to Keith to find the perfect opportunity, and then he’d have to actually get himself out. He couldn’t scale the wall on his own.

Thinking about it was giving him a headache. He tried to cast it from his mind, and instead moved back to the wall, though he stayed towards the bottom of the enclosure. He let out a questioning trill, and waited a moment for it to travel through the wall and out to sea. Merfolk had always had voices that travelled very far, but he was still relieved when he eventually got a small, questioning reply from the whales.

He wondered how long they’d wait out there. He knew that now that they knew of him, they would be reluctant to leave. Whales were always like that, even the more finicky or wild ones, like orcas. When he thought back to his childhood, he hadn’t actually come across whales that often, but he’d seen them past the shoal at least a dozen times. He’d always liked them, but almost all merfolk did.

Thinking of the shoal put miserable thoughts in his head. At this time of the year, the hunting parties would certainly be out foraging for large stocks of food. He would have been helping, if he was there. He had a big family, and no doubt there was another sibling on the way – had they been born already? – and the shoal needed all the food they could get when the fish schools started to thin.

He shook away the thoughts. He’d make himself miserable thinking about it more, and he knew he couldn’t stand that. He had to be proactive, as much as he could.

While he didn’t get much sleep during the night, he did doze. The humans weren’t as active as usual come the next day, and it put him on edge. He stayed towards the bottom of the enclosure like Keith had said, and trailed his hands through the sand to make the water just a tad murkier. 

When afternoon came and the sky started to turn orange, something dropped into the enclosure. It was held on a long, metal rope, and looked somewhat similar to the equipment Lance had uncovered in his last tank. He eyed it suspiciously, and let out a low, warning growl.

He was very surprised when the machine echoed his noise back at him. Narrowing his eyes, he swam closer, and reached out a hand to touch it, but recoiled when a burning shock went through the water. The machine let out a pitched noise that sounded frightfully like a merfolk’s warning cry, and he couldn’t help but thrash away from it. His body was hardwired to respond to those calls, and even though he knew they weren’t real, he couldn’t help but move as far away from the equipment as he could.

The equipment let out another pitched noise. He felt like his brain was scrambling, and he twisted through the water, anxiously covering his ears with his hands. The cries weren’t right, didn’t sound genuine, and rationally he knew they weren’t real, but it was making panic swell in his chest. He swam anxious circles, and let out a distressed, irritated trill when the machine let out another warped call. 

It was a struggle to muffle his noises. His fins were flared and he could feel his gills starting to contract as his breathing became harsher. He was so distracted by it that he didn’t notice when humans dressed in protective suits dropped into the water. Something cold and metal looped around his tail and yanked him backwards, and he let out a snarl as hands grabbed for him. He swiped, and felt his hackles rise as the scent of blood bloomed in the water, but then a shock was running through him, and he stiffened.

The water started to clear, and he met the eyes of the human he’d injured. Blood was pooling around his neck where Lance’s nails had ripped through his suit. He had some sort of metal rope in his hand, and it was coiled around the thickest part of Lance’s tail, pinning his fins flat. The other human was closing in, with a similar rope and a muzzle in hand. Lance, angered, lashed out.

His nails scraped against the glass panel of the human’s helmet with a painful screech. He had enough power behind it to crack the glass, making the human jerk back. Lance lashed out again, dragging his tail behind him, and this time when he struck the helmet, it shattered. Glass burst into the water and sliced up his hand, but the rope around his tail slackened, and he yanked it out of the human’s hand.

Another shock went through him, stiffening his muscles. It was like the shock the noise machine had given him but worse, and when he glanced behind him, he saw that the second human had some sort of stick with a glowing, electrified end. With Lance shocked stiff, the human grabbed their flailing companion and ascended in a rush, leaving Lance at the bottom of the tank.

He still had the rope, so in a fit of anger he looped it around the noise marker and used his entire body to pull it as hard as he could. The machine crackled, and another high-pitched screech came from it, before it suddenly snapped off its wire and sunk to the sand in a flurry of metal pieces. Lance stared at it hard, panting, before letting the rope go.

His ears were ringing. He didn’t know if the noises were inside his head or inside the tank, but they were throwing him off, and he had to grab onto the wall to steady himself. Both his hands were scraped up, his right one in particular, but it wouldn’t hinder him. He thought there might have been glass stuck in his skin, but even if there was, it would fall out within a day. The texture of his skin would assure that – granted, it was a biological skill usually used to keep sand out of wounds, but it would work for glass too.

Letting out a deep breath, he sunk to the bottom of the tank, and pressed his back against the concrete wall separating him from his freedom. The humans had a machine that could make sounds like a merfolk. If anyone heard that, even from a distance, they might be drawn into it. If the humans replicated an inviting call, or a lost call, then there was no doubt in Lance’s mind an unsuspecting merfolk would be drawn in and captured.

He had to get out of here.

Distracted, his eyes were drawn back up to the surface. There was a commotion, and humans were running back and forth along the small cliff edge. He could sense them moving along the wall too, but he didn’t move from his spot. With the setting sun, the water was becoming dark. After that night, there would only be one more until the full moon. Just one more.

He let out another breath, and cradled his hands to his chest. The cuts were starting to sting, but it was bearable. Eventually, the scent of blood left the water, and he felt like he could breathe a little. He knew he was strong enough to fend off humans – he had, hadn’t he? – and that he was more than capable of protecting himself. No matter what, he _would_ protect himself.

But…

Pitifully, he wished Keith had come to his rescue again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really cool [mer!Lance](http://chiherah.tumblr.com/post/153719759863/a-very-pissed-off-merlance-heavily-inspired-by) drawn by [chiherah](http://chiherah.tumblr.com) on tumblr
> 
> And an amazing [video](http://rainbowderpyarts.tumblr.com/post/154406886209/never-fall-in-love-with-a-human-theyll-bond-you) about the Sea God story by [rainbowderpyarts](http://rainbowderpyarts.tumblr.com) on tumblr too~ ❤
> 
> I really appreciate the support I get for my stories, and it always blows me away when people tag me in their art QwQ the feeling of seeing my works come to life like that is really indescribable ahhh! Thank you so much for all the support, I hope I can continue to write stories everyone enjoys! ❤


	14. Shallow Waters

Come morning, Lance was definitely feeling the effects of the moon. He was restless, and his body wouldn’t move like he wanted it to, so he didn’t pace the length of the wall at all. He tried to eat, but his food hadn’t been replenished in a few days, so he was stuck with only the smallest, most unappealing fish left to eat. Catching them was an effort he didn’t want to expend. He remained at the bottom of the enclosure, wedged between rocks protruding from the sand and the cliff wall.

Keith didn’t come that day, either. There was a lot of commotion above the surface, likely due to the fact that Lance had almost drowned one of the humans yesterday, but he didn’t exactly hate being left alone. If anything, it gave him extra time to gather his thoughts. He ached to be home where he could lounge around in safety, but that wasn’t something he could do here.

Nothing descended into the water until late that afternoon, and even then it was only a box full of the silver fish. He snatched one up when it unintentionally swam too close, and used a stray bone to pick out salt from between his scales. He really needed a strong current to clean off the grime on him. He’d never allowed his scales to become so dirty, and he hated himself a little more because of it.

The moon eventually rose. It was so close to being full that Lance was completely entranced by the sight of it high up in the sky. Usually, merfolk had no reason to swim to the surface, so seeing the moon clearly was hypnotising. Lance couldn’t really remember ever seeing it so big.

By the time something happened, it was well into the night. The water rippled, and then someone dropped down through it’s surface. The fish scattered, and a shadow fell across the bottom of the enclosure. From his darkened corner, Lance watched the human cautiously descend into the water.

It wasn’t Keith. Lance knew that he would recognise Keith instantly, and this wasn’t him.

But it was someone he recognised. If nothing else, the green helmet gave it away. He wasn’t in the mood to entertain Pidge’s questions that night, so he didn’t go to meet Pidge, and patiently watched him from his hidden space. A light flickered on from Pidge’s helmet, illuminating the water. The light swept across the rocks, going over Lance once before returning as Pidge suddenly realised he was there. Lance blinked slowly, and pressed his fins back flat. 

He wasn’t threatened by Pidge, but even so he didn’t want Pidge to come any closer. Humans didn’t seem to quite understand merfolk body language, so carelessly, Pidge drew closer. “Lance, are you lucid?”

Lance bared his teeth.

Pidge cringed, and did not continue approaching him. “This is important, Lance. You have to listen.”

Something about Pidge’s tone of voice made Lance perk up, so he pursed his lips, and nodded.

Pidge let out a deep breath. “Keith has a plan,” he finally muttered, “despite my objections. He’s going to get you out tomorrow night.”

“How?” Lance demanded.

“When the moon reasons, I’ll cut out the power, and everyone will be gathered in the main quad to sort it out. Keith will come and lift you over the wall. It’s the only diversion we can think of to get the guards away from this enclosure.”

Lance didn’t think that plan sounded very solid, but then again, he wasn’t very knowledgeable on human customs. If Pidge could get them all distracted, then who was he to complain? Maybe they’d flock to light like the annoying, dumb fish at the bottom of the shoal’s dens.

“A lot has gone into this, and it’s more complicated than I can explain,” Pidge warned him. “Shutting down the power is something they’re going to know I’ve done, and I can’t imagine how much trouble we’re all going to get in. You’re only going to have one chance to get away, and if you don’t, then we’re all dead.”

Lance didn’t say anything. One chance was more than enough, was more than he had in that moment. He’d take anything. 

“That’s all I wanted to say,” Pidge said. “They’re keeping Keith offshore, so he won’t be here until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. You really got yourself in a lot of trouble with that stunt yesterday, you know. Try not to attack anyone again, or else they’ll… well, you don’t want to know.”

Lance supposed he didn’t. He watched Pidge leave without saying a word, and slowly let the tension drain from his muscles. If Keith could get him out, he’d be free.

He didn’t know what that meant for his bond.

 

As much as Lance hated expending any energy on the day of the full moon, he rationally knew he had to eat. He spent the better part of the morning chasing down all the fish left in the tank. They were utterly tasteless, but he was sure he’d need the energy.

Slowly but surely, the moon rose.

Lance felt his mind go hazy as it took its place in the sky. The water was glowing, each shifting particle and dusting of sand suddenly sharp and contrasted against the darker shadows. Lance could feel the shifting currents, could sense how the ocean was periodically shifting and stilling in response to the pull of the moon. This close to the surface, the water was more violent, more prone to moving. Unlike the unsettlingly still underbelly of the ocean, the shallow waters were finicky. 

The moon had only just pulled up above the horizon when Lance suddenly heard a deafening noise come from above the surface. Nervousness fluttered through his stomach, but he swam upwards anyway, and broke up through the water. It was dark but he could see without issue – humans were moving across the rock pools back towards the shoreline, where huge, human-made structures jutted up into the sky. When he quickly glanced around, there was no one near his enclosure. He couldn’t sense anything, either.

His stomach twisted. In a flash he’d swam over to the point where the wall met the shore, and broke through the surface again. The wall was too high for him to scale himself, and he would have to completely extend his arms to reach the edge of the rocks. 

A figure approached. Lance had seen those shoulders enough to know that it was Keith, so he didn’t duck away. 

“Lance?” He hissed, as he peered over the edge of the rocks. It was too dark for him to see properly.

Lance let out a crooning noise, drawing Keith’s attention to himself. Keith startled at the sight of him, and hurriedly drew closer.

“Move down behind the rocks, Lance,” Keith urged, glancing over his shoulder with a concerned look on his face. “Your eyes are freaking glowing again.”

He didn’t reply. As he was, he didn’t think he was capable of talking. He could already feel another guttural noise building up in his throat, even though he knew Keith wouldn’t understand it like a merfolk would. 

“Hurry, come this way,” Keith said. He crouched along the rocks, his shoulders hunched, and guided Lance as close to the wall as he could. “You’re going to have to help me out here, Lance.”

He dutifully followed Keith until he was pressed right against the wall. An uncomfortable feeling of urgency was coiling in his stomach, but it was warring against the lull of the moon, and he couldn’t properly concentrate on either.

“Lift your arms up,” Keith said. “Hurry!”

Lance scrambled to comply. There were louder shouts coming from the mainland, and he couldn’t keep breathing air forever. Salt was already beginning to dry over his gills.

Keith rested on one knee and reached down beneath the rocks. He wrapped his arms around Lance’s, and tightly linked his hands around Lance’s armpits. “This is gonna hurt, I don’t think I can lift you high enough,” Keith warned, before he suddenly heaved Lance up. 

Lance beat his tail, surprised at the sudden shift in gravity. Keith grunted and stumbled backwards as he struggled to drag Lance so far out of the water and onto land. Even with Lance helping with his tail it was difficult, and his sensitive underbelly scales were harshly jarred across the cliff edge. He lets out a yelp in pain, and felt all the oxygen in his lungs rush out in one burst as Keith toppled over. Keith cursed, his voice nothing but a harsh bark as he scrambled to his feet.

“Shit, Lance, sorry, I’m sorry-” 

And then he was standing again, hauling as much of Lance up into his arms as he could manage. The end of Lance’s tail dragged against the rocks, and he could feel himself slipping in between Keith’s arms. His grip around Keith’s neck was bruising.

“Just hold on, hold on-”

A shot snapped through the air. Keith startled so badly that Lance’s tail dropped out from the cradle of his arms, making Lance shout. Keith swore again, and ducked down low. He hooked his arm under Lance’s tail again, and jerked him up as high as he could. 

“Sorry- shit.” Keith was huffing, his breaths coming out hot against Lance’s neck. It was making him feel dizzy, but his need for water was greater than that. 

The water was so _close._ Lance could sense it, like a physical pull at his mind. He let out a breathy whine.

With a grunt, Keith lifted him towards the edge. “Go, Lance!”

Another shot cut through the air, and then another shortly after. Figures were rushing towards the cliff edge, and huge lights were starting to pop up along the shore with loud booming noises. Lance yelped as one flew past his face, and let out a sharp hiss. Keith let out a pained noise and curled up over his leg, his hands tightly grasping a torn space in his suit. Lance’s heart lurched at the sight, and his fins flared. The scent of blood filled the air.

Keith pushed a hand out. “Go already, Lance!” He snapped.

He didn’t need to be told a third time. The distance between the edge of the cliff and where Keith had carried him was short, and even though the rocks stung his tail, he dragged himself off the edge. 

Falling into the ocean on the other side of the wall was like suddenly being born again. Shifting water washed over his skin and through his lungs, and as his last breath of air escaped through his gills, silver bubbles rose to the surface. A sharp crooning noise left him to echo around the ocean and without thinking he started to swim away. 

But then something stopped him.

He stilled, and his eyes flashed towards the surface. He could see that humans had reached the shore, and two had grabbed Keith. There were shouts and then a glowing purple light flashed through the air – Shiro’s hand – and then he was knocked over, sent tumbling into the water. 

Something blue glittered in the moonlight.

The pendant.

Lance was back at the surface in seconds, his eyes sharp. That was _his_ pendant, _his_ bondmate. Shiro flinched as Lance approached, no doubt because his fins were flared aggressively, but Lance didn’t care. He could see Keith struggling above the surface, see the humans had something metal pressed against his head. There were more shouts, garbled words he couldn’t understand in his hazy state of mind, but when someone strayed too close to the cliff edge, he lunged.

The human fell into the water with Lance’s hand wrapped tightly around the bottom of his leg. There was a scream and then he was under, tossed far enough down that the undertow would immobilise him. Lance sunk down lower as those flying things from before broke into the water, and snarled. The water reverberated.

Hooks connected to a net fell through the surface. Lance grabbed the ropes in his hands before they could entangle him and jerked back with a powerful beat of his tail. There were more splashes, and then more bodies were in the water, tangled in their own contraption.

Eyes glowing, he hunted them. They were predators he needed to remove, like the sharks that strayed too close to the shoal. He moved through the water with his fins pressed back and dragged humans lower, again and again, until they sunk lower out of his immediate reach or they frantically swam away. Shiro had disappeared, pulling himself back out of the ocean, as the waves began to grow.

The ocean was _his_ domain, not theirs.

Lance watched as the humans turned their attention away from Keith and back to the ocean. He saw Keith collapse, clutching his leg again, but then he turned his face up. “Go!” He shouted again, but his voice was muffled by the water, and Lance remained still.

_Take me with you._

Why won’t you go?” Keith cried.

Lance let out another croon, one designed to draw his mate closer. Why wasn’t Keith coming with him? He needed to get in the water.

A dark figure approached the edge of the cliff. It was the one who’d ripped Lance’s scale out, and instinctively, a snarl build up in his chest. Zarkon met his eyes through the surface of the ocean, and Lance bared his teeth, daring Zarkon to try and capture him now.

But then Zarkon turned to Keith, and his hand jerked out. Keith choked on another cry as Zarkon gripped him by the throat. He said something low and dangerous, too hissed for Lance to hear, and tightened his fingers. Keith scrabbled against him, but he looked exhausted, and blood was still dripping from his leg.

Shiro lunged, his hand glowing. He slammed it into Zarkon’s arm, but there was metal plating that prevented any damage from being done. A buzz went through the air and the light in Shiro’s hand suddenly fizzled out. He let out a pained shout and doubled over, clutching his shoulder. In one fell swoop, Zarkon knocked Keith into Shiro, who was sent flying into the water. His arm sparked, and he went heavy.

But Lance couldn’t take his eyes off of Keith. Zarkon had him pressed over the edge of the cliff, his hand still tight around Keith’s neck. The pendant slipped around to dangle above the waves.

Lance surged upwards. He slashed his fingers across Zarkon’s face, and scrabbled for purchase over Keith. Shots rang, and something sharp and pointed dug into his arm, but he didn’t lesson his efforts. When he dug his fingers into Zarkon’s face, Zarkon suddenly lurched away. Keith had stopped moving.

The night echoed with fired bangs and crashing waves.

Another sharp object jabbed into him. Frantic, Lance dragged his hands down Keith’s chest.

And he pulled him under.


	15. Full Moon

Water churned. He thrashed and snarled as he was suddenly pulled down with the undertow and tossed around like a newborn guppy. The ocean felt angry, felt agitated, and he flailed as he tried to right himself. His mate was wrenched from his hands before he could dig his claws into him, and he couldn’t help but let out a searching trill as the undertow swept them all away.

Lance dragged his fingers through the bottom of the ocean to anchor himself. Sand kicked up in big plumes that were quickly swept away. When he spotted a flash of red sinking through the dark water, he lunged forwards, his arms outstretched. The human was heavy in his grip, but his tail was strong, and it only took a few powerful beats to move them away from the shoreline.

After looping his mate’s arms over his shoulders, he dived deeper into the ocean. He could feel his pendant pressing against his back, and it stirred some wild, uncontrollable, instinctual feeling in him to _protect save keep mine protect mineminemine._ It was a ferocious feeling, one he suffocated in, without warning or reason. 

The ocean would protect them. The Sea God would envelope them in his arms and guide them to safer waters.

His mate suddenly jerked against him. It was a full-body tremor, one that Lance felt echo through his bones. A burst of silver bubbles drifted up over his head and through the tumultuous waves, starting him. His eyes shot up over his shoulder, but he was met by a pale face and too-blue lips. A ripple of panic went through him.

_Humans can’t breathe underwater._

He made a beeline for the raging surface. His tail had carried him far from the shoreline, around a bend in the cliff face, and the tossing waves would obscure him for a short while, so he had no fear in breaching through the water. Air burned his lungs far more than usual, and he gasped as he was tossed around with the currents. Saltwater blurred his vision, but he blinked it clear, and heaved his mate higher out into the air.

Keith wasn’t breathing. Water trickled out of his nose and the corner of his mouth, dripping off his chin. His eyes didn’t flutter behind his eyelids when Lance let out a probing noise and began to press his nose against Keith’s cheek. He was cold to the touch, even though Lance’s skin was warm. The water was affecting him, but the thought felt wrong, because how could the ocean be bad?

But Keith was human, not merfolk. Lance was suddenly so frustrated with their differences that his fins flared, and he bared his teeth at nothing. How was he meant to drag a _human_ through the ocean? Was it even possible?

He tightened his grip on Keith, and kept him pressed close against his back. He could hear piercing noises coming from the shore, even through the crashing waves, and it set his nerves alight. He dragged Keith further towards the cliff, seeking cover, and tried to keep their heads above water. Without his arms it was difficult, but he wouldn’t give up. If his mate couldn’t breathe underwater, then he’d have to stay above the surface.

Something beneath the waves caught his attention. His eyes followed it as it was dragged around by the undertow, and before he’d thought about it, he’d left Keith on the surface to dive after it. Water parted around him easily, and within seconds he’d snagged the black helmet up from the seabed. 

Keith was sinking when Lance turned his head back up. He tucked the helmet under his arm and raced to slip his free hand around Keith’s waist, hauling him back up onto the surface. Keith felt heavier than before, and it distinctively reminded Lance of dead weight.

It was hard to juggle a body and a helmet, so Lance pressed the helmet between their stomachs and grabbed Keith with both hands. He was still frightfully cold, but warm blood was drifting from his not-tail, and it made Lance narrow his eyes. Keith didn’t have scales to protect his blood, and didn’t seem to be healing very fast, if at all.

For a brief moment, Lance glanced himself over. There were puncture marks on his arms, just like the one’s he’d gotten when the humans had drugged him. He looked around for something sharp, but upon finding nothing, turned his teeth to the puncture holes. Biting down hurt, and the taste of his own blood in his mouth was horrible, but the water would wash it and the poison away. He didn’t find any on Keith; only the worrying wound on his not-tail.

Out of nowhere, bright lights shot up into the sky. They glowed red, and reflected the surface of the ocean as though the sun was in the sky. Lance clumsily shoved the helmet over Keith’s head, and ducked under. He watched the bright lights fizzle out before resurfacing a few tail-spans away. He expected the helmet to work, but when he pulled it back up, it was full of water.

He bared his teeth again. When he pressed his fingers under Keith’s chin, it took him a minute to find a pulse, but he found one. It was weak, but he’d felt weaker. If Keith was a merfolk, Lance would be stimulating his gills, forcing them open to cycle in water and oxygen. He didn’t have those, but he must have some sort of respiratory track somewhere. He tried pressing his hand against Keith’s neck, but it did nothing.

So he followed Keith’s blood flow. Blood must move from his heart, if a human was the same as a merfolk, and somehow a human must siphon the oxygen from the blood. Did humans have lungs like a merfolk? He pressed his hand against Keith’s chest, with just enough pressure to feel a small but steady rise and fall beneath his ribs. He did have lungs, then. 

Without hesitation, he thumped down on Keith’s chest. A red mark appeared, but his discerning eyes saw a bigger rise in Keith’s chest. He hit Keith twice more before water suddenly rushed out of Keith’s mouth and he starting coughing up wet noises, his fingers weakly clawing at Lance’s shoulders. 

Panic averted, he turned his attention to the shore. His instincts were piqued, his eyes wide and perceptive. He was a great distance from where he’d first been dragged under by the currents, but it wasn’t enough. He didn’t think it would ever be enough.

“L-Lance…”

His eyes snapped over to his mate, and he let out an inquisitive noise as he pressed his nose over Keith’s neck. He couldn’t smell any telling scents like he would with a merfolk, so he drew back, and turned his eyes towards the shore.

“Lance, what happened?” Keith croaked. His fingers weakly pressed at Lance’s chest as he tried to get Lance’s attention. “Where’s Shiro?”

The water seemed to change as Lance sensed _something._ He ducked back under the surface, just for a moment, and listened over the currents as a rumbling echoed through the water. It sent a shock through him because he’d heard it before – a boat.

Agitated, he gave Keith the helmet, wishing he’d put it on already. Keith’s fingers slipped against its smooth surface before he finally got a hold of it.

“This is Shiro’s,” he muttered. He was upset, and seemed angry, but Lance didn't know why. He was clearly shaken. “This is Shiro’s.” Still, he pulled it on over his head, and clicked it into place. When Lance saw him pull in oxygen, he tightened his arm around Keith’s waist, and pulled him under again.

Even with the full moon, the water was dark. Keith couldn’t see a thing, and desperately held onto Lance’s shoulders as they descended where the surface currents were no longer churning the water. Lance dove down past the rocky sea floor, and wove them both through to a space where the boats would be unlikely able to reach. He wondered if the storm would worsen, and if he’d be able to brace them both against it this close to the surface. He was used to being so deep that the storm couldn’t reach him.

“Lance,” Keith said. He pressed his hand firmed against the back of Lance’s shoulder, trying to get his attention again. “We have to go back for him. We can’t _leave_ him there.”

They were words that Lance didn’t really understand. They were free, out in the ocean, no mate left behind. Go back? It made a growl build up in his throat. He didn’t have the energy to fight with Keith, nor to ignore their bond – but his bondmate wouldn’t lead him into danger. No bondmate would.

Still, Lance struggled against the command. He dove deeper, off the shoreline ridge and down to where the ocean suddenly dropped off into nothing but water and tall pillars of rock that broke the empty space. They reminded him of the shipwreck graveyard, with its looming posts and haunting structures, only the rocks weren’t as foreboding.

The further he got from the humans, the most his body started to tire. Without the adrenaline and the impending danger he could feel himself weakening, succumbing to the spell of the moon. The wound on his arm had stopped bleeding, and his blood didn’t burn, so he knew the poison must have all leaked out. It still hurt, but it was manageable. He was more concerned about his tail. He could feel his soft under-belly scales flaking off and washing away from where he’d been dragged across the rocks – those scales were like skin, and would soon replace themselves, but it was an uncomfortable feeling nevertheless.

“Lance, you’re hurt,” Keith said. He shifted on Lance’s back, and Lance almost lost his grip on him, but then Keith steadied himself. His gloved hand pressed against the bite marks on Lance’s arm, the other going down to his hip, where a bruise was blossoming. “We have to stop.”

Lance felt like he could hardly hear Keith. He crooned once, just to let his mate know that he was trying to listen, but it came out weak and whiny. It was hard to swim in a steady line, and hard to keep his arms twisted back to steady Keith. He glanced up, and saw the full moon bright above him. Unbidden, a pitched whine left him, one that was only given back to him in lonely echoes. 

He needed to find his family.

In the very far distance, past the noise of the storm and the angry ocean, he heard the call of the whales. He lurched forwards, drawn in by them, and called out again.

He did not get a reply a second time.

“Lance, stop,” Keith said, firmer this time.

Just like that, Lance’s body locked up. Frantic, his eyes searched for a rock pillar, and he let his tail go slack as he found one almost directly beneath them. It was a little further out of the moonlight, a little deeper down, but he fell against it with a great amount of relief. 

“Lance, don’t sleep.”

He hadn’t realised he’d closed his eyes. When he peeled them both open, he found Keith watching him, a tense look on his face. He had one hand on Lance’s shoulder still, steadying himself against the rock, and the other wrapped around his leg, over his wound. Blood was pooling through the gaps in his fingers, but it was slower than before, and thinner. Maybe his blood was finally clotting.

Keith’s fingers fell to his hair for a short moment. A strange, pinched look came over his face, like he couldn’t bear to look at Lance anymore. He looked around them, and seemed crushed by the expansive emptiness of the ocean. It was something Lance was used to, was comforted by, but it must be different for a human, who could not survive beneath the water.

“We have to go back,” Keith finally said. He swallowed heavily, and set his lips in a thin line. “Take me back.”

_Take me with you._

The contradictory commands were warring in his mind. He couldn’t think rationally, couldn’t work out which instinct to follow. He wanted to go home, wanted to be safe, wanted to be with his family again. He didn’t want to be hurt anymore.

But his mate wasn’t saying that. His mate was saying to go back, to take him back, and something in Lance was desperately fighting to comply. Going back meant swimming straight into danger’s waiting jaws. Would his mate really endanger them both like that? Force Lance to hand himself over again, hand both of them over again?

Lance couldn’t believe it. Something in him wouldn’t let him believe it. There was a reason that merfolk were so careful about who they gave their pendants to, about why they were so important. Whoever he gave it to was someone who could hold his life in their hands and keep it safe, someone who would never betray him. His body and his mind weren’t wired to accept any other outcome.

“Take me back,” Keith said again. He wasn’t looking Lance in the eyes, but his fingers tightened on Lance’s shoulder, so Lance pushed himself back up off the rock. He couldn’t swim well, and found himself sinking deeper, where the water was colder. Keith followed, his mouth set in an angry line, but he didn’t speak.

The rumbling noise returned. Frightened, Lance startled, and let his eyes jerk upright. He couldn’t see anything above him, but in the distance, he knew there was a boat. It made him shrink into himself, and sink lower.

Another noise crackled through the water, just like the noise-maker that had imitated the sounds of a merfolk. It made his stomach heave, because he wanted to respond, felt a desperate need for a connection to his people.

But that wasn’t it. He wouldn’t succumb to that, wouldn’t go back. If the humans tracked him, if…

But with the storm… if they moved fast enough, if he could just swim fast enough, they could _escape._ He turned towards the open ocean, and watched the dark waters with a longing noise lodged in his throat. He could escape, just swim away and cover the entire ocean until he found himself home. He’d gotten Keith away from the shoreline, away from the other humans, and that was enough, wasn’t it? Hadn’t he given enough already?

Keith’s voice stopped him. “Lance,” he said sharply. “This way.”

Lance gave him a pleading look. He ached to be home. He was so _close._ He turned his eyes back to Keith, but lingered on his pendant. Surely Keith could feel his ache through the bond?

Keith glanced down at the pendant, and his face twisted. Abruptly, he turned around. “This way,” he repeated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early update tonight - I start my first job tomorrow, and I'm a little nervous aha ^^" I've had two plans for how this scene would play out, and while I'm happy with the one I chose, I'm not quite entirely satisfied with how it played out... I wanted more drama, but I'll have to have that in the next chapter, instead! ^^
> 
> I might consider rewriting this chapter too, if I really don't end up liking it aha


	16. Zarkon's Prize

The humans were using one of those sound-making machines again. The fake noises crackled through the water like little pin pricks, making his skin tingle unpleasantly. As they neared the bay where the wall blocked off the tank, it became worse. Even though it had been countless weeks since he’d heard his own people’s cries, he _knew_ those ones were fake. There was no mistaking them.

“Lance, hurry _up,”_ Keith snapped. His eyes had gone wild with fear, and it made something bitter coil in Lance’s chest. “I couldn’t have been out for long, right? Not long enough… long enough for them to-” He cut himself off with a harsh noise, and jerked around. His fingers were still wrapped around Lance’s wrist, and they were painfully tight. 

Humans were terrifying creatures.

_If you kiss one, they will be where you remain forever more. It is inevitable, and unavoidable, if you kiss them even just once._

The old melody echoed in his head like the fading call of a creature in its last moments of life. It figured now would be the time that it came back to him, like it was mocking him for disobeying it, even if the kiss hadn’t been given freely. 

A voice pierced through the waves. 

“I see you didn’t escape far,” Zarkon said. “Have you realised the value of my Champion, Keith? Would you like him back?”

A muffled groan crackled through the speakers. It was pained, and sent chills down Lance's spine. He couldn’t help but flinch away from it. He recognised that voice.

“Shiro…!” The cry sounded like a pleading gasp on Keith’s lips. He surged forwards, like he was about to drag himself kicking and screaming up to the surface, but his grip on Lance weighed him down. A terrifying look pulled at the corners of his mouth.

“Yes, Shiro,” Zarkon said. He sounded _teasing,_ like he was enjoying himself. It made Lance feel sick. “You’d do anything for your brother, wouldn’t you Keith?”

Brother? Lance’s eyes shot over to Keith, but Keith only gritted his teeth. He wouldn’t look at Lance.

_You mustn’t ever kiss one on the mouth. It’ll create a bond of which the way to break is completely unknown, so you mustn’t. Remember that._

Another pained shout resounded from the noise-maker, followed by a quick burst of static. Lance felt Keith jerk, his grip on Lance’s wrist becoming so tight that Lance felt something crack.

“Let him go!” Keith shouted. His eyes were fixed on the churning surface, and still didn’t move, not even when Lance tried to jerk his wrist free.

“No.” The noise-maker crackled with silence after the sharp reply. Lance tensed, waiting for him to continue, and tried to pull free of Keith’s grip again. It didn’t work. He knew something bad was unfolding, that he had to get free, but even more than that he knew he couldn’t escape the bond. He didn’t even know if he wanted to. 

_Never fall in love with a human._

He didn’t know which of those two things – being unable to escape, or being unable to want to – was worse.

“How about we make a deal?” Zarkon said instead. The way he spoke was dangerous, like there was a lick of poison in his words. “I have something you want, and you have something of mine.”

_They’ll bond you to them, to their bodies, to their souls, and you’ll be tangled in a net from which escape is especially difficult._

“A deal?” Keith repeated listlessly. His grip slackened, and then his hand completely fell away. His eyes had turned dead.

“A deal,” Zarkon repeated. His voice felt like a purr, the noise a shark makes before it falls into impenetrable silence so that it may strike before a single soul knows it’s coming. It made Lance feel like he was drowning against a tide he couldn’t swim through.

The water stilled. Lance turned his head, facing the open ocean, and felt a swell of panic go through him. The storm was moving, changing direction, but the sudden quietness coming over the water wasn’t because of that. It was like someone had suddenly become angry. It was like he was being pulled under.

“What do you want?” Keith said, but he sounded like he already knew. He sounded defeated.

Shiro shouted in pain again, the sound of it deafening loud in the silenced waters. There was a metallic grinding noise that didn’t seem to carry through the noise-maker well, followed by more sharp bursts of static. “Keith!” Shiro cried.

“Shiro!”

Lance trembled. His blood was rushing, every instinct in his body trying to force him away, but the bond remained stronger. He would not be able to escape.

Shiro screamed again. It seemed to go on and on, so much so that Lance couldn’t help but lift both his hands to cover his ears. The noise carried on in his head, completely unavoidable. It sounded so painful that he couldn’t stand it.

“Stop, stop!” Keith shouted, distraught. “Stop hurting him!”

Shiro’s anguished cries tapered off into exhausted pants. It was almost worse than the screaming.

“I’ll- I’ll do it,” Keith said. His voice trembled. He wouldn’t look at Lance, not even when Lance stared at him. 

A choked noise left him. “Keith,” Lance said. It was more pleading than he ever remembered himself sounding. He wanted to return to the ocean, to find his family. His eyes were burning. He wanted to go home. _Don’t order me to go to them. Don’t make me stay._

“Lance, don’t,” Keith said.

Lance’s mouth shut.

“Just… go,” Keith whispered. “I- I can still get you out, I promise, but just… just don’t fight it. I can’t let Shiro get hurt again. I can’t.”

Lance closed his eyes.

“Good,” Zarkon said, because he knew he’d won. A net fell through the water, weighed down at the edges, and tangled in Lance’s fins. He couldn’t fight it. Not even when air burned his lungs, and the water of the ocean clung to him like it was desperately trying to keep him in its depths. Not even when the net tightened, or when he was hauled upwards, or when Keith reached out a hand for him, but dropped it. 

_Love is a tricky thing, my dear, and humans are the biggest tricksters of all._

 

They trapped him in a new, small tank. It wasn’t big enough to hold his tail, so his fins were bent, and it was fast becoming uncomfortable. The water was stale, and unmoving, and it sat cloying in his lungs no matter how much he coughed it up.

Keith and Shiro were nowhere to be seen. As the full moon set and the blinding sun began to rise, they remained lost. Even when Lance’s tank was taken away from the shore, onto the mainland and into a huge building, they did not return. Lance felt stupid thinking that Keith would come back to get him again before Zarkon did.

“You’ve been quite difficult,” Zarkon said. He stood in front of Lance’s tank, eyes dark. “I think it’s my turn to be difficult, don’t you?”

Lance snarled, and slammed his hands against the enclosure. The glass rattled beneath his palms, but it was far too thick for him to break. 

Zarkon lifted his hand, and pressed it against the glass, just over where Lance’s was. Lance recoiled as if he had been stung. “You’re all bark and no bite,” Zarkon said, as he leaned closer. His eyes were fixated on Lance, like Lance was something for him to possess. “The sooner you learn to behave, the better.”

Lance snarled again, deep and low in his chest. He bared his teeth, but it had no effect on Zarkon, who remained entirely unruffled. Lance tried to back up, but the tank wasn’t wide enough for him to move far, so he flared his fins as much as he could and snarled again. 

“Come now, don’t be like that.” Zarkon circled the tank, and laughed when Lance was unable to turn and follow him. “Obey me.”

Lance slammed his tail against the glass, but it didn’t do much more damage than his hands had. The round enclosure was too small for him to turn around without getting tangled up in himself, or to build up any momentum in his tail. Zarkon could stand behind him and Lance wouldn’t be able to do anything other than turn his head. 

Abruptly, Zarkon turned away from the tank. He glanced at Sendak, who waited by the entrance of the room where a series of glowing boxes sat on tables, and murmured, “Start the injections.”

The water shifted, and Lance’s head jerked up. The enclosure was sealed at the top, but there were grooves in the metal that shifted and gave away with hissing and grinding noises. It reminded Lance of Pidge’s Bayard, only this seemed more mechanic and less useful. 

Out of one of the panels, a vial emerged. It was filled with purple liquid, and when it was fully submerged in the water, it opened. Lance screeched as the water was diluted, and thrashed as a prickling sensation began to race across his skin. He tried to hold his breath, but the poison crept in between his gills and coated his lungs. 

His head spun, and he felt his limbs turn unresponsive. Without the strength to hold himself upright, he slumped against the glass. 

“Much better,” Zarkon said, as he approached the tank again. “Now that your tech-rat friend had been… _disposed of,_ it’s time to regather our data. Be a good animal and stay still.”

Tech-rat? Could that mean Pidge? He tried not to think about what could have happened to him. Even if he hadn’t gotten along with Pidge, even if he hadn’t liked him, he hated Zarkon more. He followed Zarkon with his eyes, but his eyelids were becoming heavy, and even his growls sounded weak.

“That was a clever thing you did, manipulating the weakest links in my army,” Zarkon said, as he observed Lance with ferocious eyes. “You even managed to turn my Champion into your own little pet.”

Lance narrowed his eyes, and painstakingly flared his fins. The motion was strained, and consumed more energy than it ever had before. It was like consciously trying to breathe.

“Oh, you didn’t know?” Zarkon said. It was like he could smell Lance’s turbulent emotions. _“Shiro,_ the one with the metal arm. My Champion fighter. He’d do anything I say, no matter how much he wanted to protest. He knew what was at stake… though I suppose it’s different now. I already have my prize.”

A low buzzing filled the water. Lance twitched as a purple light filtered over him. It didn’t hurt, but he just knew it was taking scans of him that he didn’t want to fall into Zarkon’s hands. 

“Did you think that a human would favour you over one of their own?” Zarkon mocked. “That _Keith_ would chose you over his _family?_ A disgraceful notion, but one that binds weaker beings like them. All I needed to do was give them a means of survival and they’d do anything… even capture you.”

As much as he hated Zarkon, as much as he tried not to believe anything that monster said, Lance knew it was true. He’d seen the bond Shiro and Keith shared, should have known that it would mean more than a bond with him would ever. Keith wasn’t even merfolk. How could he have been so _stupid?_

He should have escaped when he had the chance. Should have fought the bond harder. Should have figured out a way to break it, and torn it apart.

The missing weight of his pendant around his neck suddenly felt heavier than ever before.

Zarkon reached into his pocket, and pulled something free. He held it up to the glass. A sick feeling shot through Lance’s stomach, so violent that he felt something lodge in his throat.

It was his scale.

“This was quite a pretty little thing,” Zarkon said, as he turned it over in his hand. “Would have fetched a hefty price. But look at it now.”

The scale had turned dark, and lost all its luminosity. It no longer glowed or shimmered like the ones still on Lance’s tail. At some point it had been rounded at the edge, and any trace of Lance’s skin had been filed clear from it. The scale looked manufactured. 

It was hideous.

“It’s useless now.” Zarkon put the scale out of sight, and turned his eyes to Lance’s tail. “But those… those are still worth something, even with that blight. Those will be mine.”

Lance hissed, and thumped his tail against the glass again. He wouldn’t let Zarkon take any more of his scales, he couldn’t. He already knew he would be ostracised from the shoal if he ever returned, because the gap in his scales ensured that. If another was taken, if a dozen more were taken… Lance wouldn’t survive that. 

He’d rather die and have them all turn dull. 

“Still able to move? Let’s fix that.” Zarkon gestured over his shoulder, and Sendak turned to the glowing boxes. After fiddling with one for a moment, another vial descended into the water from the top of the enclosure. It emptied all the poison inside as quickly as the first vial had. Lance let out a pitiful noise as his entire body tingled with pain and became limp.

His vision was turning dark. A hot feeling began to boil in his blood, spreading all the way from his fins to the tips of his fingers, but he couldn’t fight it. He was buckling in on himself, his tail folding as he failed to keep himself upright. Zarkon watched him sink like a predator watched their prey breathe in their dying breaths. 

A small, pitiful part of Lance still believed that Keith was going to come for him. He tried to blame it on the lingering effects of the full moon, or even the bond, but it was more than that. Even if it had been the bond that made him grow to like Keith, his feelings had gone beyond that, without him ever noticing. 

Hunk would have been disappointed in him. His mother would have been sad.

“Such a unique addition to my collection,” Zarkon said, as he stepped closer. “Once I find more of you, I’ll have a whole arsenal at my disposal to study. You’ll truly do great things for your species.”

Lance closed his eyes. He didn’t want to hear it anymore. 

There was no way he was getting out of this, not this time. He wasn’t in the ocean, wasn’t even near the ocean, and Keith had abandoned him. He didn’t even know what had happened to his mate.

_But I still want him._

“Give him another dose,” Zarkon ordered. “He no longer needs to be awake for this.”


	17. Weighed Down

The line between consciousness and unconsciousness had completely blurred. Lance felt like he was trapped in a mystifying place where there was no discernible way to tell what time of day it was. His body was numb, and he couldn’t seem to manage to open his eyes. If they were open, then he wasn’t seeing anything. 

It was both so frustrating and confusing that he couldn’t even remember his name half of the time. 

When he was conscious, all his energy was spent trying to figure out exactly what it was that was happening to him. He never woke up while someone else was in the room, but sometimes he thought he might have heard voices very close by. It was hard to focus on them when he didn’t feel like he was in the right body anymore. 

The water was making his skin tingle. It tasted worse than stale, and sat in his lungs for far longer than it should have. He felt like it was wearing away at the thin coating on his skin that protected him from bacteria and other equally bad things in the ocean, but he couldn’t stop it. He couldn’t stop anything.

Time passed strangely, in a way that Lance couldn’t make any sense of. At first it seemed like it hadn’t passed at all, that between the times he was semi-conscious only mere minutes had passed. Other times it was like days or even months had passed between the times he was conscious, and he was so disorientated that he was never able to stay awake for long. He wasn’t even strong enough to suffer in his misery.

It was heartbreaking.

 

For what felt like the hundredth time, Lance started to wake again. His mind and body struggled against it, too weighed down and battered by the poison in the water, but something was… different. He was groggy, his mind still fogged, but his senses were slowly becoming sharper. 

It started with pain. At least, he thought it was pain. An uncomfortable feeling was settling beneath his skin, and there was a kink in his tail that he ached to stretch out. There was an urge in him to _move,_ to do _something,_ but his thoughts were too muddled to figure out exactly what it was he was meant to be doing.

In bits and pieces, it came back to him. The humans, the net. The tank, and the poison. The bond, and his absent pendant. Keith.

The room was dark. When he opened his eyes, they burned, like they’d been dried out in the air for countless hours. He had to blink countless times to finally clear them before he could look around the room, only to find that it was empty of everything but the tables and the glowing boxes from before. For a moment he thought his eyes were injured because everything looked red, but then he noticed a red coloured light in the corner of the room. It was the only light that was on.

He lifted a hand, and spread his fingers. His skin looked pale, and his hands didn’t feel connected to his body until he flexed them several times. When the movement in his fingers felt mostly normal, he lifted his other hand, and did the same thing. It felt like his elbows were weighed down, or like he’d been laying on them for too long. Eventually feeling came back to them, and then to his shoulders, and his back, until finally he could straighten.

His tail was sore. There was no room in the tank to stretch, but he did his best, and tried not to groan when he felt his scales pull at his skin. They desperately needed attention, but he just didn’t have time for it. There were more important things to worry about.

The empty room was a good sign. Cautiously, he placed his hands flat against the glass of the tank, but nothing happened. He didn’t know what he was expecting, but he was expecting something. When he glanced up, he saw that the panels in the top of the tank were frozen half open, and the full vials of purple poison were suspended, like they’d been stopped halfway from injecting themselves in the water. That must have been why he was waking up – the poison was wearing off. 

Anxiously, he rolled his shoulders, and stretched his tail out as much as he could. He pressed against the glass and pushed, but his arms were too weak, and the glass didn’t even creak. He reached up to press against the roof, his fingers played around the poison cylinder, but it didn’t budge, either. 

A feeling of panic swelled in his chest. If he was awake, but couldn’t escape, then what was the point? He pressed against the roof again, and struggled against its resistance, but helplessly sunk back into the water. He had to get _out._

Suddenly, a deafening noise rumbled through the building. Lance flinched away from it, sinking into his shoulders as the water vibrated. Was something happening? Minutes dragged by slowly, and he impatiently became more and more restless. 

Then, the huge, metal door at the far end of the room opened. 

“Keith…!” The noise that escaped him was barely a breath, and lingered in the stale water. At the sight of the human he was overwhelmed with conflicted feelings, and struggled to feel relieved or deceived. Everything felt like it was coming back to him in a rush he couldn’t control, and it left him disorientated and confused. 

Keith’s eyes landed on him, but quickly dragged over to the glowing boxes. There was a bruise swelling along his cheekbone, and a bandage around his shoulder, the one Lance had bitten. He was wearing his red, armoured suit, and had his Bayard in hand. It was glowing red, and making a low buzzing sound that grew louder as Keith suddenly raised it above his head.

In one heavy swoop, he slammed it down against the glowing boxes. A shattering noise pierced the room as the lights went out and glass sprayed the floor. The boxes dented, and sparked, before one burst into smoke. The pale light in the tank abruptly went out, and the seal on the lid slid open with a compressed hiss. It didn’t slide off, but Lance just knew that if he pushed against it, it would give way to him.

Keith raised his Bayard again, and brought it down on the destroyed boxes. This time the table crumbled, and fell to pieces with the broken, metal pieces of the boxes. Keith was panting when he finally lowered his Bayard, and after swiping a hand over his mouth, he turned around to face the tank.

A warning hiss escaped Lance’s lips before he even realised what he was doing as Keith started to approach. It was a sound that died out with a wheezing whine. He held himself still as Keith approached, and didn’t meet Keith’s eyes as he lifted himself up beside the tank. With a hard push, he wedged the edge of his Bayard under the tank lid and wrenched it upright. 

The lid peeled back with a wretched screech. Bolts popped off and toppled through the water or landed outside the tank. After a second, the lid itself joined them, hitting the concrete floor with a deafening clatter. 

“We need to hurry,” Keith said, as he struggled to lift himself over the edge of the tank’s glass. The tank was taller than him, despite being on a podium, but he somehow managed to hold himself up against it steadily. “Can you reach up?”

Lance recoiled as Keith’s hand dipped into the water. It was a movement he couldn’t control, and seeing Keith’s eyes widen a fraction made something foul stir in his stomach. 

“Lance, I’m serious,” Keith tried again. He set his face, his expression like stone, and lurched up higher against the rim of the tank. His feet weren’t touching the floor anymore but he didn’t wobble, not even when he snatched up Lance’s elbow in his gloved hand. “This is the last chance I’m going to ever have to get you out. Let’s _go.”_

It was an order he had no choice but to comply with.

Keith grunted with effort as he tried to haul Lance out of the tank. Lance managed to hook his arms over the rim of the tank before Keith slipped and he was left bent over the edge. 

“Hold on,” Keith said, as he lifted himself back up. He steadied his feet against the glass and reached in past Lance, ignoring how his stomach was suddenly pressed against Lance’s nose and cheek. He grabbed onto Lance by the hips, his fingers clenched tight to keep them from slipping against Lance’s scales, and pulled him upright. Lance let out a high-pitched yelp as he suddenly toppled out of the tank, gasping for air.

Keith fell beside him, and let out a groan as he hit the ground. He was scrambling to his feet before Lance had a chance to catch his breath properly, and heaved Lance up into his arms. Lance’s fingers scrabbled against Keith’s shoulders as he felt his stomach drop. Keith’s arms were shaking, and didn’t feel strong enough to be able to hold him up, but even when he took Lance from the room he didn’t let go.

The hallway outside the room was the same as the one he’d been in – nondescript, made of concrete, and lit by flashing red lights. The noises out here were louder, and made Lance flick his fins back. “What is that?” He hissed.

“A siren,” Keith said through gritted teeth as he lifted Lance a little higher. “They know I’m here. Can’t you hold onto your tail or something?”

Lance scowled, but obediently lifted his tail up from the ground so that he could loop one of his arms under it. It was awkward and uncomfortable, but he didn’t want Keith to order him to do anything anymore. In some little way, he thought that doing it himself meant he still had control.

Shouts echoed down the hallway. Lance flinched, his eyes going wide and stricken. His head jerked around as he saw shadows approaching, but Keith’s quick hushes kept him from growling. Keith rushed down the hallway as fast as he could manage with Lance crowded in his arms, and ducked around the corner. He stiffened as footsteps approached, and let out a deep breath as they completely bypassed the hallway they were in.

“I’m sorry about before,” Keith whispered in a rush. “I… I can’t…”

He couldn’t explain.

Lance would force him to later, when they weren’t in immediate danger. He would get his answers one way or another.

“I need to get you out of here,” Keith finally said, as they edged down another hallway. “You can’t breathe out in the air for much longer, can you?”

Lance shook his head. He could already feel his gills drying out, and his lungs were starting to burn. It was like something hot was starting to lodge itself in his throat. That stale water from the tank was making his skin itch as it became drier and drier. He wanted to scratch at it.

“This facility is the one close to where you were before,” Keith explained. “But they’re monitoring the shore line here for at least twenty miles in each direction, and you can’t last out of the water long enough to travel that far away by land.”

It sounded dismal, and made Lance cringe. He didn’t understand human measurements of distance, but the way Keith spoke made it sound like it was very far. 

“I have a plan, though,” Keith muttered, when he noticed Lance’s pinched expression. “We just need to get out of this building and to the water.”

That sounded easier than it was probably gonna be. 

Keith sucked in another deep breath, and then they were off again. It was like he knew the patterns of the guards, even in their chaos. Lance didn’t question it, not yet. He was too hyper-focused on listening for footsteps and scenting the air. It was too different from water, and he couldn’t get a good grip on any one scent for too long. 

“There they are!” A rough voice shouted.

Keith swore sharply as a bullet buzzed past their heads. He heaved Lance up higher and made a break for it, running as fast as he could even when weighed down by Lance’s weight. Another bullet seared the wall beside them before Keith suddenly pushed through a metal door. It swung open easier than Lance thought it would have, like it had been unlocked previously, before abruptly slamming shut behind them. 

The outside air was easier to breathe. Lance sucked in a gasp, his fingers tightening over Keith’s shoulder, but it made him feel dizzy. He needed water.

“Just a little longer, Lance,” Keith huffed, as he scrabbled down a rocky path towards the ocean. The smell of salt was getting heavier on the breeze, but it did nothing to soothe Lance’s aching lungs. 

A loud siren began to boom out from the building. Lance stared at it over Keith’s shoulder, raked his eyes up the daunting side of the building and onto the huge spotlights lined across the top. Lights swept across the ground, grazing over them several times in the process of doing so. It was only late afternoon, he thought, but the moon was already beginning to rise in the distance above the ocean.

Out of nowhere, Keith’s foot slipped out from under him. He let out a surprised noise as he slipped over, his grip on Lance abruptly constricting. They hit the steep ground with enough force to dislodge rocks, and toppled down towards the cliff face. The sound of shots echoed over the shoreline as they neared the water. 

“Don’t let them get away.” Zarkon’s voice broke through the chaos of the sirens. Lance stiffened, his heart lurching in his chest. Zarkon was standing atop the hill, a gun in hand. His expression was darker than Lance had ever seen it. 

“Shit,” Keith swore again, as he ducked his head. He couldn’t get his feet back under him, but after a moment, he managed to scramble forwards. 

Suddenly, the cliff beneath them started to crack. Lance heard it fracturing before he saw it, and then as another bullet lodged itself into a crack, it gave way. Plumes of dust and sand burst into the air and sunk into his lungs, making him and Keith both cough and splutter. Lance let out a scared, animalistic cry as he dug his nails into Keith’s shoulders.

Rocks scraped against his tail as his grip on it disappeared, and then its heavy weight pulled him down. As the ground beneath him broke, the water rushed towards him.

And then he was submerged.


	18. Escape Pod

Water surged through his lungs. Lance coughed and spluttered, his tail flailing as he was tossed through the surf. Dust and sand threaded through his lungs and rubbed against his skin, but it was _fresh,_ it was _ocean_ water, and Lance had never felt more relieved in his entire life. 

Hands grabbed at him. He thrashed, letting out a croaky snarl that burned his throat. As the tide dragged out with the undertow Lance was pulled with it. The movements of the water righted him, and as his equilibrium returned, he broke through the undertow and away from the cliff edge. 

“Lance!”

_Keith._

Hands were gripping him again, first his waist and then tightly to his shoulders. Lance could feel the texture of Keith’s gloves this time, and made no move to throw him off. He wasn’t wearing his helmet, and his eyes struggled to stay open in the salty water. Drifting locks of dark, tangled hair obscured what little vision he had. Water bubbles were clinging to his pale skin and erupting from his mouth and nose at a rapid rate. If humans couldn’t breathe underwater, then they couldn’t speak, either.

Lance dragged him to the surface. 

Keith seemed to shake as his head broke through the water, and he let out a ragged gasp as he tried to suck in oxygen. His fingers clawed against Lance’s shoulders for purchase. “Go back under,” he rasped. “Quick, before the water settles.”

“Your lungs,” Lance started.

“Go!”

The water parted around him as he dove beneath the waves. It was incredibly murky, polluted by the pieces of rock and dirt they’d fallen through. Lance allowed himself to be swept away by the undertow, out further into the ocean where the sea bed started to steep lower and lower. Echoes of Keith’s discomfort travelled through their bond, making something tighten in Lance’s chest. He ascended to the surface just as Keith gasped and washed rushed into his mouth.

“You need to head towards that outcrop,” Keith panted, as he pointed towards a group of rocks out in the ocean, broken away from their neighbouring cliffs by hard tides and time. “My helmet and the barrier is hidden at the base of the rock.”

“Barrier?”

A shot whizzed past his ear and plummeted into the water. Lance let out a frightened snarl and dove beneath the waves once more. The water was sizzling with bullets, even when he disappeared from view. In the dark of the water the rock Keith pointed to was nothing more than a smudgy shadow, but Lance’s eyes could see it perfectly.

Keith’s arms were trembling when Lance finally reached the bottom of the rock. The water was cooler here, and calmer; the uneasiness of the ocean was above them, churning the water as though a current ran through it. He couldn’t see what Keith had buried, but Keith’s trembling hand pointed over his shoulder, so he followed directions. Beneath a loose rock he found a buried box, which Keith desperately grabbed at.

Lance ripped it open. Keith couldn’t survive beneath the water for much longer. He found Keith’s red helmet inside, along with a round, metal disk of some sort that he ignored. Instead he forced the helmet into Keith’s hands, so that Keith could roughly jerk it onto his head. Lights flashed along its edges as it hissed shut air-tight. Water flooded out of it, and then Keith was gasping, his fingers clenching and loosening on Lance’s shoulders.

“That’s better,” Keith said. He was still out of breath, but he wasn’t panting anymore. “Pass me the barrier.”

Lance did.

Keith hooked the disk onto his arm of his suit. The lines between the pieces of metal that made up the disk began to glow just like how Keith’s Bayard did, and then out of nowhere a circular dome of blue light encapsulated them. Lance flinched, baring his teeth as the strange light expanded until it completely covered them. The light made a pattern somewhat like a fish’s interlocking scales, but there was no warmth to it.

“This is a particle barrier,” Keith explained in a rush as he caught his breath. “It’ll hide our heat signatures from any radars Zarkon will use, but it won’t last forever. We need to get moving, Lance. And fast.”

Doubt swelled over him. His body might have been improving fast in the fresh water, but all that time spent out in the air and in the poison-tank had left him weak. He wouldn’t be able to swim fast enough, not with how heavy his tail still felt. 

As if Keith could sense his rising panic, he reached out to grip Lance by the elbow. “I can get us out of the bay,” he said, eyes firm. “We just need to stay inside the particle barrier until it can’t hold up anymore.”

Lance didn’t question him.

Keith pressed something on a panel on his arm, and a strange buzzing filled the water. “Come here,” Keith said. He hooked his arm around Lance’s waist, the arm without the particle barrier disk, and locked his elbow in place. “Pidge modified my suit before he left.”

“Left?”

Keith had no time to reply before the back panel of his suit suddenly started to erupt. Lance jerked in surprise, but Keith’s tight grip on him didn’t let him move far. The jets reminded him of when hot water would spew out of cracks in the sea bed, but this was different. They were intentional, and before he knew what was going on, they were being propelled forwards almost as fast as Lance could swim.

Lance couldn’t help but wince at the unnatural way water pushed through his gills. When he swam, there was an instinctual push and pull in his body where one movement led to the next. This was not like that.

“Just hold on, Lance!” Keith shouted over the rush of the water. 

Soon the sea bed dropped away from view, and the undertow by the shore disappeared. The water became dark, illuminated only by the glowing particle barrier. The water rushing past them felt almost like a current, and Lance closed his eyes as he felt it scrub away the grime on his skin. 

_Am I really free?_

Ages seem to pass as the shoreline grew further and further away. Lance’s sensitive ears could pick up the sounds of boats rumbling in the distance, but they weren’t moving in any set direction. The particle barrier must have been doing its job well. 

Eventually, however, it started to waver.

Keith mumbled something harsh under his breath, the words too sharp for Lance to make out. He boosted the jets on his back, carrying them further out while the barrier still held up. “I don’t think we’re far enough out of the reach of the heat radars. They’ll see us in minutes.”

Lance’s thoughts scrambled. This had been a problem posed to him before, but… “I think my first plan can still work,” he said. “The one I mentioned before the full moon.”

A furrow appeared in Keith’s mind. “You never told me.”

Lance closed his eyes. He was sure his plan would work, just as sure as he had been when he’d first thought of it, when the first inklings of the whale songs had reached him. “How long was I…?” He didn’t know what to call it.

“Lance, is it really the time for-”

_“How long?”_

“About two days,” Keith murmured, his voice filled with something heavy and unnameable.

 _Only two…? How could it be only two?_ Lance couldn’t dwell on it. Two days was only a short while, and with the amount of time the whales had already lingered by the cliffs, he hoped that they still remained. 

A low call rumbled in his throat. He allowed it to build higher and higher, until it echoed through the water. He could feel Keith startling in surprise, but he didn’t let it distract him. When his call died out, he held his breath, and waited. A moment of utter, deafening silence passed, and then, quietly calling back to him, were the whales.

“That way,” Lance said breathlessly, as he opened his eyes. He lifted a hand to point. “Go that way.”

Keith’s face expressed his confusion, but he seemed to know not to doubt Lance. Especially not when he was venturing into Lance’s territory. He jetted them both in the direction Lance marked out, his eyes flickering between the empty space ahead and the steely look on Lance’s face.

Then, out of the dark blue, shapes began to emerge.

Lance let out a soft, high call. It was returned by the whales, their voices loud and clear. As the particle barrier flickered out of existence, Lance broke free of Keith’s hold, and swam ahead. The whales were calling him, were singing a song that pulled on his very being, luring him to their sides. And out of the darkness, they came to him.

At first, it was orcas – the whale killers. While they had been known to kill merfolk in the past, a killing hadn’t occurred for decades. A stray juvenile might nip after a merfolk’s tail, but it was never ill-willed, not like it used to be. The orcas were simply unafraid of them, and in his moment of need, they freely came to him.

The leader of their small pack let out a call. Lance outstretched his hands, his pace slowing as the orca gradually edged closer. Despite their friendliness, the size difference between an orca and a merfolk was still great, and an understanding of carefulness must be met in these sort of instances. Slowly, the orca moved closer, until it could press its snout and forehead into Lance’s open palms. 

Lance let out a small trill, and leaned forwards to press his forehead against the orca’s cool skin. Its pack mates circled, restlessly crying out at Keith. Lance turned away from the orca greeting him to watch them, feeling an animalistic, protective urge swell in him at the sight of his vulnerable mate. He let out a warning snarl as one strayed too close, and as a litany of puzzled cries reached him, he answered them with low, soothing calls.

If the whales associated Keith with him, then he would be safe. They would not harm him.

“Lance,” Keith whispered, as he drifted closer, “we have to go.”

“I know,” Lance said. He smoothed his hand down the orca’s snout once, then twice more, before remorsefully pulling away. “Will our body heat be hidden amongst theirs?”

Keith’s eyes flickered with understanding. “It should.”

Lance nodded. He trilled at the orcas again, and in a rush of dark shapes, they began to move back towards the pod of larger whales they’d accompanied to the bay. Lance could hear them in the distance – hear the real jewels of the ocean, the ones that merfolk had always held sacred. The whales with large bodies and rough, blue skin, the same colour as the purest water.

And while they typically avoided orcas, their young often falling prey to the whale killers, they had not this time. 

“Hold on to me,” Lance said, “and don’t use your jets. You mustn’t frighten the orcas. They do not trust humans.”

Keith nodded. His hands circled around Lance’s chest, the front plates of his suit pressed against Lance’s back as he let Lance carry him through the water. “Can you understand them?” He asked, his voice low.

“Of course I can,” Lance answered. “They’re incredibly intelligent, and their songs are far more expressive than some.”

Keith glanced around them. The orcas were weaving patterns through the water, and to a human like Keith, it perhaps seemed disorganised or random at best. To Lance, however, it was different. The orcas were acting like chinks in armour, working together to make an impenetrable defence around them. Lance doubted that even a wily shark would be able to make it past the orcas. 

“They won’t hurt you,” Lance whispered. “I asked them not to, and they will respect my wishes.”

“But why?” Keith asked. “They’re animals.”

“Does that mean I am an animal, too?”

Keith’s eyes widened for a moment. He didn’t answer. Lance hoped that he understood that the bond merfolk shared with the ocean was not something he could explain. Animals or not, the whales respected merfolk, and in return, the merfolk shared their riches and their territory. Often times, even companionship was offered. It was a delicate balance unlike any other.

“Where are we going?” Keith asked. “We need to go-”

“They’re taking us to a different pod,” Lance said. “The orcas will break off into their hunting groups and leave this part of the ocean. We will stay with the other whales.”

“There’s another pod?” Keith asked, wisely backing down from directing Lance elsewhere.

Lance nodded. Tiredness was beginning to burn in his limbs, and a sweat was starting to bead along his skin. He was too weak and too exhausted to keep up this pace for long. Keith’s added weight wasn’t helping, though he wouldn’t let go of his mate. He’d work out whatever feelings he had towards Keith later – for now, he just had to know neither one of them were in danger’s teeth. 

“Lance,” Keith started, “I… I’m-”

“Not now,” Lance murmured. “I’m too tired for it, Keith.”

Keith winced, and pursed his lips. He didn’t say anything else. Lance didn’t think he could stomach any of Keith’s apologies, not while the memory of Keith’s betrayal was fresh in his mind. Not when he could feel his pendant pressed between them.

He didn’t know if he was relieved or upset that Keith was still holding onto it.

Keith suddenly leaned up. Dragged out of his confused thoughts, Lance lifted his head. The orcas were still circling, but in groups of two and three they began to break away, disappearing into the dark blue of the ocean. Lance watched them go, but was too tired to offer them a parting trill. 

Ahead, shadowy shapes began to emerge from the water. They were impossibly large, and moved slowly and fluidly, as if they were a part of the water themselves. Lance stopped swimming, knowing that it was necessary for them to see him before he approached them. 

“What is it?” Keith asked. “I can’t see.”

“It’s them,” Lance whispered, “the pod. The whales. They’ll help me.”

Keith’s fingers tightened against Lance’s chest. He watched the water almost anxiously, and seemed to shrink when the vast bulk of a blue whale came into view. “Lance,” he whispered, like he was frightened.

Lance rumbled at him. 

Keith quietened.

Slowly, the leader of the pod appeared. She was big, bigger than the others, and had a song far more beautiful than any Lance had ever heard. When she gave him a soft, long greeting, he returned it with the nicest, sweetest cry he could manage.

She would help.


	19. Dark Past

The warmth of Blue’s body was lulling. From a distance, whales looked cold and regal, like they were too great to be gazed upon. They were animals that held their heads high, animals that were steadfast and reliable and powerful. Lance had always been taught to respect them, especially the whales like Blue – the biggest ones. Even if they weren’t the top predator in the ocean, their reverence was impenetrable. 

Blue’s pod was more than willing to carry Lance across the ocean. They expressed concern about Keith with small, high trills, but did not deny him their safety. Lance left him tucked behind one of Blue’s huge fins, where the water current was weakest and her warmth was greatest. He had to greet the other pod members, had to reassure them of his presence and his scent. It was a sign of respect he knew they would value, and with his small, receptive calls, they did not turn him away or act inconsiderably. 

It felt like ages passed before Lance finally returned to Blue. Keith was where he had left him, and looked rather concerned until Lance made an appearance.

“Where are they taking us?” Keith asked, as Lance hovered close by. He seemed restless, like he wanted to say more, but he wisely held his tongue. 

“I don’t know yet,” Lance answered. He felt like his face was heavy, and he had dark circles under his eyes. He wanted to sleep, but he knew Keith had more questions to ask. “I don’t even know where I am, Keith. I just want to go home.”

Keith winced. “I… I’m sorry Lance. So sorry, for- for everything I did. I…”

Lance pursed his lips. Keith’s eyes flickered, and he stopped talking. Now was not the time for apologies. He didn’t even know what to say to anything Keith could possibly tell him. With that settled, Lance reached down to tuck himself against Blue’s fin, low enough that the flowing current only brushed against the top of his head.

“Is it safe to sleep like this?” Keith asked, hesitant. He was holding tight onto the rough ridges of Blue’s fins like he was afraid he would be swept away. Maybe he would be. To a human, maybe the constant movement of Blue’s swimming was disruptive, but to Lance, it was like being back in his Mother’s arms again.

As much as Lance had been hurt because of Keith, he found himself unable to stomach the thought of Keith getting lost in the ocean. He knew he wouldn’t fall off of Blue no matter how rough the waters became, but that was a real threat for a human. With a small, tired sigh, he lifted up his arm. “Come here.”

Keith carefully slid over, but stiffened when Lance put his arm over his back. Lance turned his face away, his cheek pressed against Blue’s fin, and let his body go lax. He wouldn’t drift away from Blue, and with Keith pinned under his arm, he was safe. It didn’t take Lance long to pass out after that.

 

The fresh ocean water helped sooth his itching skin. By the time Lance’s eyes finally opened again, an entire day had passed, and the moon was rising. The whales were in the process of breaching, though Blue lingered beneath the waves until it was as calm as it could be. It was likely out of consideration for her weary passengers.

Keith wasn’t under his arm anymore. Lance had shifted, curling up in a different spot, but when he lifted his head he found that Keith was awake anyway, and holding onto Blue himself. “Did you sleep?” Lance croaked as he rubbed at his eyes with a knuckle. He’d slept for ages, but he still felt exhausted. More than anything, he wished he was deep enough down in the ocean that the sunlight could no longer reach him. He wondered if his skin had become burnt by its harsh light yet.

“A little,” Keith said. “What’s going to happen now?”

Lance groaned, and pushed himself upright away from Blue’s fin. He didn’t want to think about it. “I want to go home,” he said quietly. “That’s where I’ll go. I… can’t decide for you, for what you need to do next. So I don’t know what’s going to happen now.”

It was hard to admit. As much as Lance was hurt by Keith’s actions, he’d become accustomed to his presence, and he still felt their bond humming through him strongly. He didn’t know how he could break it, didn’t know if he _wanted_ to. Wouldn’t it be for the best if he did, if he could? Just thinking about it gave him a headache.

“Shiro is out on the ocean somewhere,” Keith murmured. “I have to go above the surface and let my GPS catch a signal before I can found out where we are. He’s waiting for me.”

“So he’s alive, then?”

“Yes.”

“That’s good,” Lance said, his voice dry. Considering what Keith did to keep Shiro safe, Lance should expect that he would be alive. He didn’t say it out loud, but Keith winced like he had, and Lance felt vindicated. 

“Look, Lance…” Keith started hesitantly, as his shoulders tensed. 

Lance glanced at him, and silently waited for more.

Keith almost looked teary. “I know what I did was wrong,” he said, “I _know_ it was, but I did it anyway. I’m so sorry Lance. I’m… I’m never going to forgive myself for this, and I don’t expect you to, either.”

Something in Lance’s chest tightened. It was an earnest apology, one that Keith really meant – that was something Lance was sure of. He’d never seen Keith wear an expression like that, and it made him ache. Keith was a proud person, and to see him looking so vulnerable even if it was to apologise made something in Lance feel very, very wrong.

But that didn’t make him accept what Keith had said. 

Lance turned his eyes away. “Then why did you do it?”

“I… I can’t lose Shiro again, I already lost him once. He’s all I have.”

“Again?” Lance asked sceptically.

Keith sighed. It was a tired, drawn out noise. “I’ve never really known my parents,” he explained, “and I don’t have siblings. Shiro raised me and made sure I never went into foster care. He- he really saved my life, you know? I don’t know what would have happened to me if he hadn’t stepped up.”

“So that’s why you call him your brother.”

Keith nodded. “We’re not related by blood, but we might as well be. I already lost him once, I just… I just couldn’t go through that again. Hearing him cry out in pain is worse than anything else I’ve ever gone through.”

“I don’t understand.”

Keith glanced away. “Shiro used to work for a sea exploration garrison,” he said. “They were affiliated with the navy, so he was often sent out onto the ocean to undergo missions. He was the best in his class, so it was expected that he had to do the most dangerous things.”

“Humans aren’t meant to be in the water,” Lance said. “It’s beyond your reach.”

There was no reply to that, but Lance didn’t expect one. “Shiro always came back from his missions,” Keith said quietly. “He promised me he always would. Until he didn’t.”

It was like the water suddenly grew cold. Lance had heard things like that before, when rabid sharks or aggressive rays or even a hostile orca strayed too close to their shoal and their warriors went out to chase them off. _He didn’t make it back,_ people would whisper, _he didn’t return. He didn’t make it._

Even if he was young, hearing those words always left him with a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was no different now.

“It was Zarkon’s crew that fished him up after the Garrison gave up,” Keith said, his voice bitter. “They replaced his arm, and in repayment, they forced him to work for them. They would have made his life and my life hell if he hadn’t. They threatened to detain him and send me into the system if he didn’t do what they said. Because he was stuck on their base while they toyed with his arm, I had to be moved there, too. They used me against him.”

Lance wanted to apologise for the distress Keith had clearly been through, but he didn’t. It wasn’t his place. 

“Shiro was missing for three months before Zarkon dragged me to their compound. I thought he was dead. The Garrison had a funeral service for him, but I couldn’t even bring myself to go. What am I supposed to do without him? I don’t have anyone else. I never have.”

“So what happened to him?” Lance asked. “When he was out on the ocean.”

Keith shook his head. “No one knows. Shiro doesn’t remember, but he has nightmares about it where he wakes up screaming. He lost his arm in the accident, but that could have been from anything. No one knows what happened to his crew mates. One of the missing people is Pidge’s older brother.”

Lance’s eyebrows went up. “Pidge’s brother is missing?”

Keith nodded. “They still haven’t found the ship, let alone the missing crew. Shiro was the only one that Zarkon took control of.”

“What if he has the others, too?”

Keith’s eyes abruptly went wide. “What if he does?” He repeated. 

Lance felt like he’d said something wrong. If Zarkon still had Pidge’s brother, then not only had Keith left Lance with him, then he’d left Pidge’s brother, too. Who knew what Zarkon would do to him without Shiro or his prized merfolk to play with instead? Lance didn’t even want to think about it. Humans seemed a lot more fragile than merfolk, and if Zarkon was willing to rip out his scales, then with a human…

“And what about before?” Lance asked. “What happened to him before?”

“He’s alive,” Keith repeated. “Zarkon completely shut off his arm, so it doesn’t work anymore. Pidge was meant to take a boat out to get us all, but while the boat was there, Pidge wasn’t.”

“So Shiro’s on the boat?”

Keith nodded. “He’s waiting for me to join him. He’s set the coordinates into my communications device so I know where to go, but I have to get a signal first. We can’t return to the mainland anymore, not with how much influence Zarkon has over the authorities. I… I don’t know what we’re going to do, but we’ll figure it out.”

It sounded dismal, even to Lance, who knew next to nothing about human politics. In the end, it wasn’t his job to worry about what Keith would do once they went their separate ways. It was never his intention to fall in love with a human, nor was it his intention to be bonded with one. And yet-

He sighed. Now wasn’t the time for that. “Where’s Pidge?”

“We don’t know,” Keith murmured. “Pidge disappeared after switching off all the electronics during the full moon. I didn’t see him in the compound, but… when I was getting you out, I wasn’t the one to turn everything off again. I wasn’t the one who unlocked the exterior doors, either. No one could have done that except Pidge, so he must be alive, at least. Just not anywhere that I know about.”

“When are you going to go find Shiro?”

Keith glanced away. “It’s only been three days since I left him, and it’s only just verging into two since I got you out. I told him to give me a week, so I won’t go searching for his signal yet. The further away I can get from the mainland, the better. Using the particle barrier will only work for so long before it needs to go into its cool-down period, so the whales are really helping.”

Lance nodded. “Okay.” He hesitated a moment, and glanced Keith over. The dark circles under Keith’s eyes clearly spoke of his exhaustion, and neither one of them had eaten in days. Lance couldn’t even remember the last time he’d had nourishment. “What about food?”

Keith winced. “I’m more worried about water,” he said. “Humans can last a while without food, but not very long without fresh water. And before you say anything, no, we can’t drink salt water.”

“Can’t your body filter the salt out of it?”

“No.”

“Oh.” Lance frowned, and pressed a hand to his chin in thought. Keith wasn’t in his good books – not by a long shot – but that didn’t meant he wanted to let Keith die of dehydration. Of course, merfolk had a solution for malfunctioning body filters, because not everyone was healthy and filtering the impurities out of the water was an important function, but would a human be able to consume water in the same way? “I can probably find you fresh water,” he started slowly, “but I’ll have to leave you for a few hours.”

Keith looked somewhat stricken at that. “How will you know where to find me? These whales move pretty fast.”

Lance scoffed. “Please, you think I can’t find my Blue just because she has a head start on me? The ocean is my domain, and there’s nothing I can’t do in it.”

Keith looked surprised by Lance’s conviction, and was silent for a moment. There was a worried pucker in his brow. “Alright,” he finally said. He couldn’t hide the shakiness in his voice. “Alright, but you have to promise to come back.”

 _Is he afraid I’ll leave him?_ “Okay,” Lance said.

“Promise me,” Keith insisted. “Promise me you’ll come back.”

“I promise.” It was a command, one that Lance answered without even thinking. For once, he didn’t care that it was a promise he was forced to make. Keith might have betrayed him, done awful things to him, but Lance wouldn’t leave him. _How messed up is that?_ But he couldn’t help it, and it wasn’t just because of the bond either. 

Maybe he’d willingly fallen for Keith, too.

Keith let out a deep breath, and held out something. “Take this.”

It was his knife. Surprised by the offer, Lance took it. Keith didn’t say anything after that.

Once Keith was tucked back under Blue’s fin, Lance left him. His energy was low, but he caught up to Blue’s head with relative ease, and ran his hand down her side. His small croons told her everything she needed to know, and although she let out a low, worried call, she didn’t try to stop him from leaving.

There would be water-fish deep down in the ocean, further down than humans could go. He didn’t know if he had the strength to brave the waters, nor the right weapons to defend himself against anything down there, but he had to go. 

The deep was calling him.


	20. Cold Depths

The water grew colder as Lance descended. It felt like returning home, but that wasn’t a thought he could linger on. This wasn’t his home, wasn’t even close. He knew that straying into another creature’s territory without an invitation was a death sentence. Still, he had to go.

The darkness was intimidating, but he welcomed it as he sunk deeper and deeper. The change in temperature and light made him realise just how harsh the sun was, and how it had mistreated his body. Already his skin felt cooled and soothed by the frigid water, and it eased an ache in his head he hadn’t even realised he had. 

It was eerily quiet when he reached the point where humans would be able to go. This was nothing for him, and parts of his shoal reached deeper, but it made him sharply aware of just how different he and Keith were. There was no doubt in his mind that Keith would freeze down here, or the pressure of the water would become too much for him. For Lance, it offered no resistance. His body was designed to move through waters like these, and he only struggled because of his exhaustion.

For the most part, he descended into the deep unnoticed. Soon strange fish and otherworldly creatures began to drift past, ones he assumed that humans had yet to discover. Some he recognised, others he’d only heard of. These waters were colder than the ones near his shoal – his shoal sat close to a rift in the ocean floor, and the warm water on the eastern side of their territory was where they incubated their eggs. Here he could sense no rifts in the floor, no movements from lava deep within the earth. 

Maybe that was a good thing.

Eventually, the fish he sought started to appear. They looked like normal fish, but that in itself was strange, considering how deep he was. In the dark their scales were dull, and they swam in groups of ten or twenty that darted away as a singular form when he strayed too close. It wasn’t the fish itself that he was after – it was what they had inside them. These fish had a sack of fresh water stored in their bodies; it didn’t particularly have a function that any merfolk could discern, but they were useful for merfolk who were sick. 

Catching them proved to be a struggle. He was too weak to chase them, and had to wait almost perfectly still for them to swim within his reach. Keith’s knife certainly came in handy, but the first two he caught he accidentally sliced right through the fresh water bubble in them. Not wanting to waste the kill he ate the fish, and it boosted his energy levels a bit.

He had two of the fish successfully clutched in his free hand when a deep noise reverberated through the water. He stilled as the fish he was trying in vain to catch scattered, and let out a long, slow breath. The water was shifting now, parting around something big – something that was moving towards him. 

After a moment, he caught sight of it.

The creature was shaped like a shark, with eyes on either side of its head. A wide row of teeth sat perched in its mouth; its gills flashed, tasting the water. The scent of the dead fish must have drawn it, along with Lance’s. As it circled him, Lance finally saw the rest of it – it was easily double his entire length, but its eyes were dark and small, so he guessed it was almost blind. There was no need for a shark like it to see down here, after all. 

Lance shifted, and winced when it jerked towards him. With a rush of energy he didn’t know he had he drove himself upwards, but the shark followed, its maw pressed open wide. He rolled out of the way just before those teeth closed around the water where the end of his tail fin had been. With a grunt, he lashed out with Keith’s knife. Blood burst into the water as it cut over the face of the shark, straight down through its eye.

The blood disorientated it, but it still managed to lash out before it turned tail. Its teeth nicked his arm and he cried out in pain, dropping the fish he’d been holding. His stomach churned. Without thinking he swam down after the fish, unheeding of the shark’s presence. He needed those fish for Keith. He couldn’t let them go, couldn’t return without anything. Keith needed them.

He speared the fish on Keith’s knife and held it close as he jerked back around. He could no longer see where the shark had gone, and the blood in the water was smothering its scent.

It didn’t chase after him as he raced upwards. Maybe the cut had scared it off – it had likely never preyed on a merfolk, probably never even seen one. The sharks around their shoal knew better than to take on a merfolk by themselves, and usually teamed up with others if they wanted to stray closer. 

Dazedly, he covered the nick on his arm with his hand and tried not to led the blood seep out. The natural film on his skin that kept him from turning wrinkly like Keith did would speed up the clotting process, but much of it had been worn away from his time in captivity, and it was a slow process. He feared that leaving such an obvious blood trail would draw the wrong kinds of creatures towards him and by extension, towards Keith. Somehow that thought scared him more than facing the deep-water shark had.

It felt like a lifetime passed before light started to filter back into the water. He rose straight up, but not high enough that the sun would start to burn his skin again. Instead he lingered in the shadows, were only columns of light ran over him when he passed through them. Like he expected, Blue and her pod had moved on. It had probably been hours since he first descended, and the strain of it was already making him pant.

He took a moment to catch his breath. The two fish he had were a little torn up but mostly intact, and he expected his cut to stop bleeding before night fell. The water was empty around him, and he could not hear nor scent anything coming towards him. The deep-water creatures wouldn’t stray where the sunlight fell. 

When he felt a little more rested up, he cleared his throat, and let out a long, high call. It echoed through the empty water around him for several moments after he’d ended it. When nothing returned it, he swam a hundred or so tail-lengths in another direction and let it out again. This time, he heard Blue’s call in the distance. 

The whale pod came into view as night started to fall. He’d moved closer to the surface to greet them, and was glad to find them breaching – Keith would need the open air to cut into the fish so that he didn’t lose their water.

“Lance!” Keith shouted, as he caught sight of him. He was still tucked under Blue’s fin, but he let go when Lance lifted his head. He jetted over to Lance using his suit, and put his hands on Lance’s waist like he was trying to help him up. “You’re injured! What happened to your arm?”

“Nasty shark thought I was a snack,” Lance said. “Clearly, I’m not.”

Despite the seriousness of it, Keith let out a snort. “Yeah, alright,” he said. He paused for a moment, and lowered his eyes. “I almost thought you weren’t coming back.”

“It takes ages to swim that far down you know,” Lance said. The way Keith still carried that vulnerable air around him made him desperate to lighten the mood. He held up the knife. “I only got two before the shark ruined my fun.”

Keith frowned. “What are they?”

“Water-fish,” Lance said. “Haven’t seen them?”

“No, never.”

So he thought right. Humans weren’t able to travel down that deep, at least not on their own. He felt a little better knowing that. “We need to go above the surface to get the water out,” he said. He loathed the idea of sucking in more oxygen, but he’d almost become used to it, now.

Keith was slow to follow him up to the surface, though he was the first to move above it. He pulled off his helmet and sucked in a deep breath as he treaded water, and patiently waited for Lance to join him. “Do those really have drinkable water in them?” Keith asked, as he gave the fish a strange look. 

Lance nodded. It took him a moment to be able to talk with the air drying in his lungs. “They have a fresh water bubble in them,” he said. “Don’t know why, but they’re useful. I’ll get it out.”

Keith still looked doubtful, and he made a face when Lance carefully sliced the fish open with his knife, but he didn’t dare complain. 

“Hold this,” Lance said, as he held the fresh water in his hand and passed the carcass to Keith. “Don’t drop it.” The second sack came out easier than the first, and when he had both, he gave them and the knife to Keith. “You can wash it off in the ocean if you want, but just be really careful with it. The membrane breaks really easily, and I only caught two of them. All you have to do is make a small cut and drain what’s inside.”

“That is disgusting,” Keith said, but he’d already started carefully wiping the fresh water sacks clean.

“It’s that or nothing.”

Even if it was disgusting, Keith did what he was told. The water probably didn’t taste like he was used to, but he drank as much as he could get into his mouth when the sacks were pierced, and he let out a grateful moan as his throat was soothed. 

“Is that enough?” Lance asked, as he picked at the fish. He was still hungry, and he knew Keith definitely wouldn’t eat them, so he wasn’t going to waste them. 

“Yeah, it’s good,” Keith said, as he discarded everything in the water. “Thanks, Lance.”

Lance pursed his lips. Keith still sounded soft, like he was trying to please Lance, and it made Lance feel weird because it was so honest. Keith had always been more… closed-off, in a way, so his sudden emerging vulnerability puzzled Lance. Maybe it was because Keith realised just how dangerous the ocean could be.

“Are you sure that’s going to close up?” Keith asked, as he stared pointedly at Lance’s arm. “It’s still bleeding.”

“Hmm? Oh.” Lance glanced down at his arm, where the jagged teeth marks of the shark had torn his skin. It wasn’t bleeding as heavily as it had been before, but he definitely wasn’t healing as fast as usual. “No, it’s fine. Feel here.” He grabbed Keith’s wrist and pressed his hand against his arm, where the thin coating made his skin soft. “Once this reaches the wound, it’ll close up a lot faster.” After an awkward moment when he realised he had Keith’s wrist still clutched in his hand, he added, “It’s nothing to worry about.”

Keith’s face looked a little red. He took Lance’s arm in his hand and turned it over, taking his time to explore the new piece of information offered. His fingers traced light lines up Lance’s arm, feeling where the coating was growing stronger and smoother, sinking into his skin. When he felt the difference between the dry skin around the wound and further up Lance’s arm where the coating was smooth, his eyebrows rose. 

“I didn’t notice this,” he said.

“It wears away with bad water conditions and stress,” Lance said, as he slowly drew his arm back. His skin was annoyingly cold without Keith’s hands. 

Keith let out a long sigh. “While we’re here, I’ll search for Shiro’s signal,” he said, as he lifted his arm out of the water. A panel on his suit lit up, and he stared at it pensively for a few moments before it lit up with words and lines. “Ah, there he is.”

Something strange coiled in Lance’s stomach. If Keith knew where Shiro was, did that mean they had to part? Already? Unbidden, his eyes moved down to his pendant, still securely tied around Keith’s neck. Even after everything that had happened, he hadn’t lost it. The blue stone wasn’t even scuffed up. Had Keith taken extra care to keep it safe? Lance felt his face soften. Seeing his prized possession so cared for made his anguish towards Keith’s actions lessen, like he was finally starting to let go of them.

What would his mother tell him to do in this sort of situation? Would she be upset that he’d bonded with a human, that his actions were tied to Keith’s words? Would she tell him to do what he thought was right for him, or right for their shoal, or right for Keith? He didn’t know. More than anything, that was what caused him pain. Bonds weren’t meant to be stretched or broken, they were meant to be dearly treasured.

_Maybe I should tell him._

“Are you alright?” Keith asked, before Lance could get the words out. “You look pale.”

“Just tired,” he said. It wasn’t exactly a lie. After a moment, he said, “I’ll go with you.”

Keith’s head perked up at that. “What do you mean?”

“To Shiro.”

Keith’s eyes widened. Those irises still looked violet, and it did stupid things to Lance’s chest. “You’ll come?” He asked. “You’ll stay with me?”

“For now!” Lance said quickly, before Keith’s hopes skyrocketed. “Just to Shiro,” he said, quieter. “I guess it’s the least I can do.”

“Lance, you don’t- you don’t owe me anything.”

“Yeah well, it’s that or let the ocean kill you. Humans clearly aren’t meant to be in water.” It was an attempt at a joke, but at least Keith seemed to understand that, and he let the subject drop with a small chuckle. 

“What about the whales?” Keith asked.

“They’ll likely be going in another direction,” Lance said, “but we might be able to travel with them for a day or two. I’ll ask Blue where… where my home is, before we leave her. Then I’ll go there.”

Keith nodded. He didn’t bring up Lance’s home either, which Lance was glad about. “Alright,” he said, as he put the helmet back over his head and locked it into place. “Let’s go then.”

Lance slipped back under the water and let it rush over his head. A moment later, Keith appeared beside him, and before Lance could regret it, he offered Keith his hand.

Keith took it.


	21. Thin Air

Blue was forlorn. Lance had told her that he would not be travelling with her for much longer, and although he’d received a sad cry from her and her pod, she wouldn’t stop him. Whales didn’t often interfere with merfolk, but Blue was an exception. Lance was fond of her, and although he knew he had to leave, he didn’t want to.

When it finally came time to go, Blue led Lance away from the pod for a moment. Lance felt safe leaving Keith where he was – he would only swim a couple hundred of tail lengths away, not enough for any danger to get to the human before Lance could. Blue was effortlessly gentle as she drifted away from her pod, Lance securely tucked under her fin. 

She really was awe-inspiring. After spending so long away from the open waters and everything in it, being with Blue was a welcome comfort. As if she could sense his pain, she rolled over to expose her belly, and let him glide across the smooth skin there. He’d seen whales do it for their young, like a game, and indulged in the childishness of it. Blue twisted her fins to guide him where she wanted, and he laughed. Blue seemed to laugh, too.

“We’ll meet again,” Lance promised as he swam up beside her head, his hand trailing along her skin, “won’t we?”

He received a low, comforting noise in reply. A deep sense of nostalgia hit him like a wave to the gut, and he closed his eyes. Blue’s noises reminded him of the soft lullabies his mother used to sing to him when he was newly hatched and vulnerable. She’d hold Lance in her arms to protect him from the small currents by their shoal and sing when no one else was listening. He wondered if Blue was a mother. She’d be a good one.

Keith was watching him out of the corner of his eye as they watched the pod disappear into the watery blues of the distance. He wasn’t rushing Lance, didn’t even speak until they couldn’t see the whales anymore. “The biggest whale – do you know her well?” Keith asked, when the silence eventually turned uncomfortable. 

“I’ve met her before,” Lance said. “She doesn’t really associate with merfolk, but she likes my shoal. Her pod swims by every few years, though I don’t remember the first few times because I was so young. I think she’s taken a liking to me.”

“Well, she did wait out here while you were-” Keith abruptly cut himself off, though Lance was sure he was going to say “captured”. The word was left unspoken. “What I mean is that I think so too. That she likes you. This isn’t coming out right.”

As much as Lance was sad without Blue, Keith’s flustered attempts to cheer him up did make him feel a bit better. Even if Keith was talented with his Bayard, he was clumsy with his words, and it made him feel a little more human. “I’ll see her again,” he said. “All life in the ocean is about meetings and departures. Even the water itself doesn’t stay.”

Keith gave him a curious look. “What do you mean?”

“Isn’t it the same on land?”

For a moment, Keith was quiet. “No, I think people view life differently on land,” he finally said. “Up there, everything is life or death.” Keith looked away. “People struggle to find time to enjoy living, and before they know it, their time is up.”

“Humans are strange creatures,” Lance said. “Us merfolk, we believe in different things. We understand that the water can bring us things just as easily as it can take them. It’s a push and pull, an inhale and an exhale…. Like the tide, or a current, we meet and depart at every moment. We don’t see death as the end.”

Keith glanced at him. “You don’t?”

“No,” Lance said. “When we die, the Sea God welcomes us home with open arms. He guides us through life, and in death, he rejoices at our reunion, and listens to how we spent our days. And then, when we are ready, we are returned to the water to live again.”

“That sounds nice,” Keith said quietly. “I wish we believed that. I wish I did.”

“Why can’t you?” He thought he already knew the answer.

“I’m not like you, Lance. The water isn’t my home,” Keith said, “and it can’t ever be.”

 

They managed to swim for an entire day before Keith started to get seriously fatigued. He had his map up for most of the day, and turned the particle barrier on for as long as it could be before it needed recharging, just for extra protection. Being in the water with a constantly moving current was sustaining Lance enough for him to feel alright, but Keith was clearly tired. There was only so much he could do with the jets on his suit, too.

“I have to stop,” Keith said, when the moon started to rise at the end of the day. “I can’t feel my legs anymore.”

Lance frowned. He’d been periodically leaving Keith in search of food, but he’d come up empty. They were in one of the most remote places he’d ever seen. Even deep in the depths there was hardly anything living. “We’re in the middle of the ocean, there’s nowhere to stop.”

Keith let out a frustrated groan, and headed to the surface. When he breached it, he pulled off his helmet and sucked in a huge lungful of air. From his place several tail lengths beneath the surface, Lance could see just how tired Keith really was. His legs were slow as they kicked, trying to keep him up in the air where he could breathe. There was a rigidness to his back that hadn’t been there before, and although he’d been wearing his helmet, his hair was damp. 

After a moment, Lance followed him up.

“I can’t keep swimming like this,” Keith said before Lance could get a word in. “It was fine with the whales, but the suit is running out of energy, and I don’t have any water or food. I thought we’d be closer to Shiro by now.”

“Can you sleep floating on the surface?” Lance asked.

Keith’s frown deepened. “I doubt it, I’d probably drown.”

“What if I held you up?”

“I don’t see how that could work.”

“Well you either keep swimming or try to sleep, there isn’t another option. I don’t need to sleep yet so I can make sure you don’t drown.” Lance expected Keith to hesitate or refuse, to tough it out, but he didn’t. He didn’t even question whether or not Lance was being sincere, and instead only gave him a resigned nod.

“I want to sleep,” he said. 

Still surprised, Lance offered his hand. Again, Keith didn’t hesitate in taking it. He went almost boneless, which let Lance handle him however he saw fit. Lance could tell that Keith didn’t want to sleep underwater, so he rolled onto his back, and pulled Keith on top of him. It made Keith tense up, but Lance’s body was designed to move with the water, so he didn’t sink more than a few inches. Lance used one hand to press against the small of Keith’s back, keeping him steady, and the other to hold onto his helmet to keep it from drifting away. He could feel his pendant pressed between them.

Suddenly face-to-face, Lance’s breath caught in his throat. 

Keith’s eyes were wide, his face a picture of flushed vulnerability. This close up, his eyes really did look indigo. “W-what?” Keith asked, his tone toeing the line between nervous and defensive.

Lance tilted his head back, his eyes pointedly fixed elsewhere. “Nothing,” he said. “Go to sleep.”

“No, tell me,” Keith said. “I’m curious.”

The words slipped out before Lance could fight them. “It’s your eyes. I’ve never seen anything like them before.”

Keith’s eyebrows shot up. “My eyes…?”

Lance pursed his lips shut. The bond was making him admit things he didn’t want to think about. It was stupidly embarrassing. “Just go to sleep,” he said again.

Keith gave him a puzzled look. He still had that open look on his face, like he wasn’t hiding a single thing in the world. Out in the middle of the ocean with just the two of them, Lance didn’t feel like hiding anything, either. “Your eyes are nicer,” Keith said in a whispered rush, like he was afraid of saying the words. He inched closer regardless. “I’ve never seen anything like them, either.”

Having his own words turned against him made Lance feel… squirmy. In a good way, which was probably a bad thing. Keith was so close that Lance could sense his soft exhales against the drying water on his face. “What are you doing?” He whispered.

An array of emotions passed over Keith’s face, more than Lance had ever seen on him before. They were gone in a moment, but he remembered them so sharply that it was like he was the one expressing them – worry, embarrassment, eagerness, hesitance… They made no sense, and crowded his mind, and as much as he wanted to give into them-

They were swept away by an undercurrent of wrongness.

“Don’t,” he said, before Keith could close the gap between them. He instantly regretted his choice. “Not… not now. Yet,” he corrected.

Keith swallowed. He didn’t back away, but he had a wide-eyed looked to him that almost seemed to be shameful. 

Lance rubbed Keith’s back without thinking. “Go to sleep,” he said for the last time.

Keith turned his head to the side, resting his cheek against Lance’s chest. His skin was cold against Lance’s, but not in a bad way. Like this, Lance could feel the rise and fall of his ribcage, even through his suit. The position would eventually become uncomfortable for Lance, but he didn’t care. Keith just needed to sleep, so that’s what Lance focused on. Counting Keith’s exhales calmed him down.

It took a while for Keith to truly drift off. An hour, maybe. The moon was high in the sky by the time he finally went limp, his mouth slightly open, hands slack over Lance’s shoulders. It must be hard to sleep like he was, slumped over a merfolk, but somehow he managed. Lance wondered if their bond had anything to do with it.

Only when he was sure that Keith was well and truly asleep did he move his hand from the small of Keith’s back so that he could touch Keith’s hair. The sweat in it had dried, leaving it tangled and out of place. Carefully, Lance brushed a strand away from Keith’s face, and tilted his head forwards. Keith’s skin was soft beneath his lips.

“What am I going to do?” He whispered. There was no answer – not from Keith, not from the looming moon or the swaying waters. 

Not even from himself.

 

Keith woke with the sun. Lance had been swimming with gentle beats of his tail, so they were farther along than Keith expected. Although they were both tired and hungry by then they continued on, knowing that Shiro was waiting somewhere ahead. Keith checked with his map, and after assuring himself that they were travelling in the right direction, they began to swim again.

A midday, when Lance had sunk further beneath the surface to avoid the sun, Keith suddenly jerked up. He’d put his helmet on and joined Lance where the heat could no longer affect the water’s temperature, but he didn’t seem as distracted by it as he had before. Instead his eyes were focused straight ahead, on something in the very far distance. When Lance followed his line of sight, he saw it.

Sitting like a bird on the surface of the water was a boat.

“Shiro,” Keith said. His voice had taken on an excited breathlessness that made something horrid twist in Lance’s stomach. “That’s Shiro!”

Lance said nothing.

Keith took him by the hand. “Lance, let’s go. We’re finally here.”

He didn’t resist. It wasn’t a command, but suddenly weak, Lance complied as if it were. The boat frightened him. The moment he was first yanked out of the water, his fins tangled in a human’s net, flashed behind his eyes so hard he physically jerked. Keith didn’t notice. 

_I’m scared._

Chills broke out across his skin. The boat drew closer and closer, growing bigger and bigger, like it was invading the water. Keith recognised it, and there was no doubt it was Shiro, but just the sight of it made Lance feel dizzy. He scratched at his skin, feeling the ghosts of ropes cutting burns into him.

_Don’t make me go._

He wanted to hold onto his pendant, but it wasn’t around his neck. It hadn’t been for a long time. His stomach churned.

_Please, please. I’m scared. I’m scared!_

If the bond went both ways, then Keith would have felt it. He would have known Lance’s emotions like his own. The sickness in him grew bigger just like the boat, just like how the hole that his family filled grew bigger, just like how Zarkon, each time they’d met, had grown bigger. His fingers were going numb, even the ones Keith held. His vision spun.

He looked up. The shadow of the boat passed over his face.

_No!_

Lance tore his hand free. Keith spun backwards, pulled through the water by the roughness of Lance’s actions. He let out a surprised shout but Lance didn’t hear it. Darkness spread through his mind but he’d closed his eyes, closed them so he wouldn’t see. The air in the water was getting thin, was getting hard to breathe. He scratched at his gills until they stung expecting them to be crusted over with dried salt.

He needed to get away. His eyes were burning, he needed to get away. He could no longer breathe in the warm, bright world where Keith lived. He needed to get away.

“Lance!” Keith shouted.

Lance pushed at him, his body twisting, trying to shake off the ropes that had never truly left him. He needed the dark, needed the cold, needed Blue’s comfort and needed his mother’s lullabies. He pushed through the water as hard as he could, begging it to let him back in.

“I’m sorry!” He told it. He didn’t think he was speaking out loud, couldn’t even get the breath to breathe, let alone cry out like he wanted to. “I don’t want to leave, I don’t want to! Please!”

“Lance!” Keith shouted again.

Darkness enveloped him. He broke through its barrier, and the light of the sun disappeared. Soon enough there was nothing and no one but himself, but the ache of rope burns, but the excruciating hollowness of his empty-scale scar. Down swallowed by the deep, one last cry reached him.

_“Lance!”_


	22. Tentative Comfort

Deep-ocean water was impossibly cold. Once, when Lance was barely old enough to retain conscious memories or thoughts, there had been a gathering of his shoal away from the dens and the hunting grounds. Everyone had been required to attend, aside from those guarding the incubation grounds and those too weak to leave the safety of their dens. That included Lance’s family, with little Lance in tow.

He couldn’t quite remember what they’d been doing out in the middle of the ocean. It had something to do with the Sea God and the way the water changed when the setting moon cast its gaze upon the deep. He had been too young to comprehend how significant it had been, too young to remember to ask about it later when he would have been able to grasp how important it had been. As it was, he was left with only two lingering thoughts: that it _had_ been something incredibly important, and that the water away from all other forms of life had been impossibly cold. 

Just like it was then.

Lance cried out as he crashed against the ocean floor. His eyes had been closed, and even when they flew open his vision was clouded by the sandy debris his tail kicked up. He frantically darted out of the sand cloud and was greeted by nothing but darkness. There was no light breaching this far down, nothing bioluminescent, but he could see. Rough shapes rose out of the sea floor so he swam for them, using his hands to find a space big enough to slip under. They were rocks, covered in sharp chunks of coral and something mossy.

The space beneath the rocks was tight and small. He had to curl his tail up and tuck his arms in tightly to fit into it, but he managed. He could sense small fish darting around just outside of the gap, but he didn’t have the strength of mind to wonder how they could be so deep down in the ocean, or if they had anything bigger they were trying to hide from in the hole he’d stolen from them.

The pressure from the rocks made him feel like he couldn’t possibly ever fall apart. 

 

He dreamed of the Sea God. At least, he thought he did. Lance woke up feeling disorientated and cramped and distinctly like there was a voice drifting through his mind, one that he knew he’d never heard before. It wasn’t uncommon for merfolk to dream of the Sea God – they were told countless stories right from the very moment they were born about the life of the Sea God and what the Sea God had done for them. 

But it was still strange for Lance to dream of the Sea God then. 

Whatever it meant, it wasn’t the dream that woke him. Instead it was a shift in the still water, a change in it’s scentless nature. He hunched further into his shoulders, his heart racing as he tried to find what it was that had changed. That’s when he saw it. There was a light in the distance, searchingly moving over the sea floor. He tracked its movements, and followed the beam up to its owner.

“Lance!” Keith called, his voice pinched. “Where are you?”

He stiffened. He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, but no, that was definitely Keith hovering in the water. He couldn’t see Keith’s face through his helmet, but he wasn’t blind enough to not see that Keith was shivering, his limbs stiff with cold. There was no way his suit could withstand the temperature of the deep.

“Lance,” Keith tried again. He swept the light from the object in his hands towards the rocks, and startled, Lance shifted deeper. Sand swept out from the gap, and he winced. Everyone knew that in the face of danger, one was to freeze. Moving made things worse. The light jerked towards him. Keith hesitated before sinking closer, bracing himself against the rock as his knees hit the sand. “Lance? Is that you?”

He paused. A weird mix of shame and inferiority swept through him, and he didn’t know why. He could see Keith’s face clearly now, even if it was dark. The sight of those indigo eyes put him at ease a little. 

“There you are,” Keith said breathlessly. He set down the light-stick and reached for Lance with both hands, coaxing him out of the gap in the rocks. Keith’s hands were cold, and when he touched Lance, he could tell that Keith was shivering. “Are you alright, Lance? What happened?”

“I…” Lance struggled to find the words to explain how he felt. “I can’t…”

“Is it the boat?” Keith asked. “You can’t go near it?”

“It’s not that,” Lance said, his eyes lowered. It wasn’t that simple. It wasn’t just the boat, even though that was a big part of what made him feel so panicked. It was what the boat reminded him of. Before he’d been- before everything that had _happened,_ he’d thought the boats in the shipwreck cemetery had been awe-inspiring. They’d been haunting and towering and frightening all at once. They were remnants from a time and a world where he could never exist.

At least that was what he had thought.

Keith was quiet. “I think I understand,” he said, “and I hate myself for what I’ve done to you. I’m going to try and make this right, Lance. I’m going to get you home.”

Lance wanted to believe him. Something in Keith’s voice made him think that Keith could never be wrong. Deep down, he knew it wasn’t the bond that was making him think that way. It was something different, something he didn’t know how to name. “But how?” He whimpered. “How can anything be right again?”

“I don’t know,” Keith said. His honesty was raw. “But I’m going to try.”

It wasn’t a command, not even close, but Lance believed him. He didn’t shake Keith off when Keith drew him closer, not even when Keith put his arms around him. The chilled temperature of the suit pressing against Lance’s skin reminded him of just how cold Keith had to be. The depths really were no place for humans.

“Why did you come down here?”

“What do you mean? I was worried,” Keith said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You just disappeared.”

“You’re shivering,” Lance pointed out. “It’s not safe down here.”

“But you were down here.”

Lance flushed. It was too dark for Keith to see it. He didn’t know how to face Keith’s… he didn’t know what to call it. Affection? Attentiveness? Care?

Guilt?

He shook away those thoughts. He didn’t want to think that Keith was only treating him so nicely just because he was guilty. Thinking that just felt wrong. He turned his face into Keith’s neck and tried to banish the persistent doubts in his mind. Keith’s suit was cold against his cheek, and it almost made him shiver. He couldn’t let Keith stay down here for much longer, but when would be the next time Keith would hold him like this? When would be the next time he’d _let_ Keith?

But Keith was shivering worse now, and a pained expression had come to his face. Lance pulled away from him. “You can’t stay down here.”

“Let’s go back, then,” Keith said. “You don’t have to come to the surface, just… higher up.”

“Alright,” Lance murmured. Keith was too stubborn to leave without Lance, and as long as he didn’t go near the boat for a while, then he would be fine. “What about Shiro?”

“What about him?”

“You said you’re going to help me get home.”

“I am,” Keith said. “I talked to him about it, and he won’t stop me. As long as we hide from the Galra-”

“Zarkon?”

“Yeah. As long as we stay off their radar while we figure out what to do next, then everything will be fine. Shiro has heaps of provisions for us, and there’s a lot of equipment that Pidge left on the boat. It’s now just a matter of figuring out where to go from here.”

Lance nodded. He put one arm around Keith’s waist to haul him upright through the water. They both knew he could swim faster than Keith could, even with his suit. Keith felt heavier than usual, weighed down by cold and the heaviness of the water. Lance carried him up until where light pierced the surface of the water and the cold fell away.

The shadow of the boat made him still.

“Don’t worry,” Keith said, when he followed Lance’s stare, “you don’t have to go up there. Baby steps.”

Lance nodded again. He’d build up the courage to get to the boat eventually, but for now, he felt safer in the water. He wouldn’t say he’d gotten over the shock of seeing a boat up close, but he definitely didn’t feel as panicked as he had before. Maybe it was because he expected it, or because he was with Keith. He was too tired to figure it out.

“I’m going to head back,” Keith said. He squeezed Lance’s waist once. “We’re going to keep travelling until sundown. Are you okay to follow us?”

“Okay.”

Lance watched Keith reluctantly head back to the surface. His skin felt tingly where Keith’s hands had been. Keith glanced back at him once before disappearing above the surface. The water felt strangely lonely without him in it. 

True to his word, they spent the better part of the day travelling. Lance stuck to the deeper water, just out of reach of the sun’s harsh rays, but not deep enough to cause Keith anymore worry. He didn’t like hearing the thick rumble of the boat as it vibrated through the water. Whenever he got too close the water made his sensitive gills vibrate too, and it wasn’t the most pleasant of feelings.

Towards the end of the day, when the sun was just starting to dip into the horizon, they came across a school of fish. Lance had no idea where they were, but the fish were migrating along the length of a strong current, and they were a perfect opportunity for him to eat his fill. Of course, actually catching the fish was a difficult matter. They behaved like they’d never seen a merfolk before; cautious, and twitchy, constantly on the defensive. 

There was a reason Lance had been a hunter back in his shoal, though.

The fish were pretty decent sized, and easy to sink his teeth into once he got a hold of them. They weren’t eager to stray away from the current, which was perfect for Lance considering the fast water did an excellent job of cleaning grime off his scales and skin. He ate at least four of the fish before his stomach simply wouldn’t hold another bite. He felt sick almost instantly – living off those fish he’d been fed by Zarkon had done nothing good for him – but he didn’t regret it.

He knew Keith had said there was enough food on the boat for both him and Shiro, but how long would that last? He ended up snagging one of the fish for Keith… just in case.

When night fell, the boat stopped. Lance breached the surface a safe distance away, and watched the two humans wander around the deck for a moment. There was a small light on, and he could smell something strange on the air. Human food, perhaps? He was curious, but not curious enough to go any closer.

Keith joined him in the water a little while later. Lance had been circling the current, cleaning the last bits of grime from his scales. Being clean made him feel a lot better.

“Why do you have a fish?” Keith asked. 

Lance flushed, embarrassed. Humans didn’t really eat fish like merfolk did, but he still forced it into Keith’s hands and choked out a flustered, “Eat it,” anyway.

Keith gave the fish a comically surprised look, and then he laughed. Lance was so caught off guard by the sound of it that he startled, his eyes going wide. He hadn’t heard Keith laugh like that before. It made Keith’s face soften, like someone had smoothed out the aggressive lines caused by frowns and the concerned wrinkles in his forehead. 

“Thanks,” Keith said. “I’ll cook it up later.” When he noticed Lance starting, dumbstruck, he tilted his head to the side, and frowned a little. “What is it?”

“I like your laugh,” Lance said. He sounded dumb just coming out with it like that, but it was the truth.

Keith spluttered, lost for words. He looked as embarrassed as Lance felt, and somehow that made Lance laugh. At least he wasn’t the only one feeling so… embarrassed. He hadn’t laughed in a while.

“Will you be alright down here for the night?” Keith asked. “I know you don’t want to come onto the boat, but there’s no higher ground here…”

“I’ll sleep on the ocean floor,” Lance said. “As long as there’s nothing hungry down there, I’ll be fine.”

Keith’s frown deepened. He reached for his knife clipped to his back and gave it to Lance. “Don’t hesitate to come get me if you need me,” he said. He looked like he wanted to say more, but didn’t. Instead, he whispered a quiet, “Goodnight,” and left Lance be.

Lance watched him go before making his way down into the dark depths. Like the previous night, he found a slim spot between too outcroppings of rock and wiggled his way inside. It was cold, but when he dug his tail into the sand, he found that he could stand it well enough. At least he wasn’t panicked that night.

It would be the second night in what felt like ages that he didn’t have Keith with him. Even when he’d been captured by Zarkon, Keith had constantly moved in and around the pools, coming into the water both at night and during the day. Lance had gotten used to his company, even more so when they’d been travelling with Blue and her pod. He didn’t know if it was a good thing or not, even if a large parted of him wanted to believe that it was.

Again, he was struck by the feeling that the ocean had become oddly lonely. Maybe it was just him.

Lance absentmindedly pawed at his chest, but his pendant wasn’t there.

For a while, sleep evaded him. His mind was too caught up in thoughts of Keith, about his laugh and his promise to take Lance home and the bond. If he told Keith about it, would Keith still treat him the way he was? Or would he think Lance manipulated him into freeing him? He didn’t know what he wanted from Keith anymore, except…

Except for Keith to just be Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [my tumblr](http://milkteamiku.tumblr.com/)


	23. Sudden Message

The bond haunted Lance’s dreams. He woke up restless and uneasy, with blurry, faceless images in his mind of the Sea God and his past lover that fled as soon as he tried to grasp them. He took his time swimming out of the depths, but the moon was still visible, so Keith wouldn’t be awake. 

For some reason, Lance breached the surface anyway. He wasn’t particularly inclined to sink back to the depths, and he knew sleep would evade him. Instead he decided to see what the ocean looked like when it was quiet and lonely. He almost expected something profound or beautiful or otherworldly.

But it was just the ocean.

It made Lance broody. Another full moon was approaching, and the sight of it fractured against the water filled him with a lost feeling, like he’d been placed in another world. He’d been above the surface countless times now, but it still pulled a foreign feeling from him, like he was peeking into a room he was told not to enter. 

He spent a while drifting on the surface on his back, glancing between the moon’s reflection on the water, the moon itself, and the boat. He wasn’t afraid of the moon’s reflection, though seeing it still make him jolt – he’d never been that close to the surface before, not until he was taken. The moon itself, he thought, wasn’t as frightening as what its full face turned him into, but he’d handled the moon countless times before. That left his mind to wander back to the boat.

It was small, and cast dark shadows on the water on the side that didn’t face the moon. There was a fairly wide deck with open spaces on either side big enough for a person to pull themselves up with the help of handles. A structure offered shelter for half the boat, and when Lance circled it once, he could see that there was a wheel hidden beneath the alcove, and a dark stairwell. Was there space beneath the deck for humans to sleep and eat? The boat seemed just big enough for it, so he assumed there was. 

From this perspective, the boat wasn’t as frightening as it had been before. Here he could see it for what it was, and he wasn’t surprised by its presence. If it were like a shark, then it would be a tired one, one that he always had in his peripheral vision. 

The boat only became a terrorising monster when it was pressing down on him. It made his skin itch with rope burns and his lungs ache with the need for cool water. Realistically he knew that neither Shiro nor Keith would be forcefully hauling him up out of the water, not after everything they’d put themselves through to get him away. It was the memory of it that left him paralysed by fear. 

If he wasn’t afraid, would he have been able to go on that boat and seek out Keith’s company?

He didn’t like to think about it.

 

The difference in speed between Lance and the boat soon became a problem. Even if Lance was fast, he was no match for a mechanical motor that had unlimited stamina. Shiro was worried about fuel according to Keith, so the boat wasn’t going as fast as it could, but Lance still tired after a few hours of sprint swimming. The problem could be fixed if Lance joined them on the boat, but he refused. Keith didn’t push him.

Halfway through the day, the boat stopped, and Lance took a chance to rest. He was covered in a thin sheen of sweat that he washed off in a current. He’d eaten yesterday but was incredibly hungry again. He’d been keeping an ear out for fish, but this far away from rock structures and colonies meant that food was scarce. He’d been lucky to find the schools of fish he had before. Keith came to join him in the water when he surfaced after unsuccessfully finding food.

“Nothing?” Keith asked.

Lance shook his head. He’d popped up some ways away from the boat, but he eyed it with a frown. It looked distinctively more weakened in the daylight. 

“Do you think you can eat human food?” Keith asked. “We have heaps of rations, there might be something you like.”

“Depends on what it is, I think,” Lance said.

“Want to try?”

He agreed after a moment of hesitation, and accompanied Keith back towards the boat. Being closer to it made his heart race, and not in a good way. There was no way he could board it, but maybe hovering beside it… he could manage that.

Keith seemed worried in the way that people who didn’t want to look worried seemed worried. He hauled himself up onto the deck and turned to give Lance his hand, but Lance shook his head.

The food Keith brought him was packaged in little reflective bags. “It’s foil,” Keith said, as he handed Lance one of the bags. “It keeps the food preserved for a long period of time.”

“It doesn’t seem nice,” Lance said, his nose scrunching up. “It’s edible?”

“The food inside is.” Keith took the packet back and ripped open a strip across the top. Lance peered out of the water a bit higher, curious. “This is dried meat,” Keith said, as he held the open bag down to Lance. “Not fish.”

“What meat, then?”

“It’s from a cow.”

“A what?”

“A cow. It’s a mammal we used to get beef and milk from.”

“You get milk from animals? Not human mothers?”

“We drink animal’s milk. Breastmilk is for children.”

Lance frowned. Their children drank breastmilk as well, but it was uncommon for merfolk to drink milk after they were a year old. In fact, it wasn’t often needed after the child was a few seasons into their life. Things like paste made from ground plants and soft fish sufficed well enough.

The beef Keith offered him was… weird. It was hard and chewy and tasted like salt. The beef kind of made his stomach curl. “Don’t like it.”

Keith snorted. “Yeah, it takes some getting used to I guess. I think you’ll like something that’s not meat. We need to eat the bread before it goes mouldy, anyway. Want to try that?”

Lance slowly agreed. He had no idea what Keith was talking about, but when Keith returned with a soft _thing_ for him to try, he was rather surprised. The bread required little to no pressure from his teeth to digest. It was kind of plain in taste, but Keith explained that humans would often put something on top to make it better. He liked the bread, so Keith gave him half a loaf, and he tried not to gorge himself on it.

Shiro came up onto the deck while they were eating. His presence made Lance oddly nervous, but Shiro’s shoulders were lowered, and his face was open. He looked tired and exposed, and that somehow reassured Lance. 

“Your arm,” Lance said, before he could stop himself.

Shiro jumped at the sound of his voice, and glanced at his metal arm. It was charred in places, like someone had burnt the metal. The joints looked like they were stiff and the surface was covered in scratches. “I got it working again, but only enough to move it around,” Shiro said. He clenched his fingers, but his grip was slack. “It’s not painful.”

Lance knew he was lying.

If the frown on Keith’s face was anything to go by, he did too. “Want something to eat?”

Shiro took the beef packet and sat by Keith on the deck. He ate in silence for a while, looking less like he liked it and more like he ate it because no one else would. The silence was uncomfortable, but Lance kept his eyes turned towards Keith, which helped alleviate the tenseness. For him, anyway.

A sudden beeping from the boat had both Keith and Shiro jerking around. Lance flinched at the sudden movement and sunk beneath the surface, his last bite of bread forgotten. Getting away from the boat was his first priority, and when he was a safe distance away, he waited.

Keith dropped into the water a few moments later and jetted his way over to Lance, looking out of breath. “That was a message from Pidge,” he said before Lance could get a word out. “He’s alright.”

Lance didn’t know how to react, but he felt a knot unravel into relief, so he let it overcome him. He hadn’t known Pidge well, but Pidge had helped him escape, and Lance was indebted to him because of that. “What’s he been doing?”

“Looking for Matt,” Keith said. After a second, he clarified, “His older brother, the one who’s missing. He found him.”

Lance’s eyes went wide. “He did?”

Keith nodded. “I don’t know the details, but Pidge sent us his location, and he’s in between us and where we-” He didn’t finish his sentence, but the ending was obvious: where they’d captured Lance. It didn’t hurt as much as it usually did to hear it.

“What do we do now?” Lance asked.

“Pidge’s communications are shot, but he managed to tell us what was going on. They’ve run out of supplies, so we need to get to them. Shiro is frantic. It’s on the way…”

“So we’re going to them,” Lance said. “Does Matt know about me?”

“No,” Keith said, “I don’t think so. I’m not sure. I doubt Pidge would say anything, but I don’t know what’s happened to Matt since the ship he and Shiro were on went down. I hope he doesn’t know…”

“You do? Why?”

Keith pursed his lips. He looked like he hadn’t meant to say that, but it wasn’t like he could take it back. “I don’t know,” he finally answered. 

Lance thought he did, but he didn’t say it. He thought that maybe Keith wanted to keep him a secret, maybe for Lance’s protection, maybe because he wanted Lance to himself. A small part of Lance hoped that it was for both reasons, and would be flattered if it was the second. It was like when he found something particularly wonderful, like sunken treasure or a particularly warm current, and he only shared it with Hunk. That way it was something important, something for just the two of them.

“We’re going to start moving soon,” Keith rushed to say before Lance could think too much. “Will you be alright?”

“I’ll be fine.”

 

Nightfall had Lance falling asleep faster than a guppy. He found a nook on the sea floor safe from predators, tucked his tail beneath the sand, and was promptly fast asleep. He woke up early again, chased into wakefulness by the Sea God’s story. He hoped it wouldn’t become a common occurrence. 

He returned to the surface to study the moon again. It would be full tomorrow night. 

“Lance?”

At the sound of his name, he turned towards the boat. Keith was standing on the deck, leaning over the railing. A curious breeze played with his hair, pushing it away from his eyes. He was dressed in a way Lance had never seen him dressed before; his clothes were loose, his feet were bare, and he carried no weapons or armour. The shape of his body was very evident where the wind shifted and tilted up his clothing.

He looked vulnerable. Soft.

Attractive.

Lance was drawn closer to him.

“You’re awake,” Keith said. He looked genuinely surprised, his face gentle and relaxed with the ghost of sleep, his voice even more so.

“So are you,” Lance said.

Keith rested an elbow on the railing and propped his chin in his hand. He was looking at Lance in a way that Lance desperately wanted to call _fond._ “Can’t sleep?”

“Something like that,” Lance said. “There’s a full moon tomorrow.”

Keith’s eyes went up to the sky for a moment. He made a noise of agreement.

“I wonder if I missed any,” Lance murmured. He drifted closer to the boat, and tentatively pressed his fingers against its side. He’d grown used to the noises it made when it was running. It was much friendlier when quiet. 

“There was one or two, I think,” Keith said. “Where nothing happened, or you weren’t awake. Or I didn’t notice. Can something like that happen? Your body missing it?”

“Yeah,” Lance said. “Mothers who are heavily pregnant or have freshly birthed eggs aren’t often affected by the moon. The sick, too. Stress can cause our bodies to fall out of alignment.”

A wince twisted at the corner of Keith’s lips. Lance wasn’t staring at it. “What will we do for this one?” Keith asked. “Shiro is reluctant to waste a day, not when Pidge and Matt need supplies.”

Lance shrugged a shoulder. Water dried on his skin where it left the comfort of the ocean.

Keith was watching him carefully. His indigo eyes followed Lance’s wandering hands beneath the surface, where he was learning the feel of the boat. “Do you want to try coming up?”

Lance shrunk into his shoulders. It was like he’d come face-to-face with a wall. He couldn’t deny it forever. “O-Okay.”

Keith sunk to his knees and reached out a hand. He wasn’t wearing his gloves. His palms were pale and wide. When Lance put his hands into them, Keith’s fingers curled around his, and his grip was tight. One moment Lance was in the water, and the next he was out of it, slipping across the cold deck. Keith let out a muffled grunt as Lance collapsed on him, unable to steady his wet tail. 

The first thing Lance noticed was how warm Keith was. Warmth bled through his clothes as the water from Lance’s body soaked through it. He was stuck with his tail fins still over the deck, and although the press of the edge was uncomfortable, it was bearable. Keith’s fingers grabbed at his hips to pull him up completely, and they somehow ended up side-by-side, pressed together at too many points for Lance to name.

He was shaken, but it wasn’t from fright.

“How do you feel?” Keith asked. It was like he wasn’t affected by their close proximity, by how his clothes were wet and clinging to him. When Lance looked a little closer, he could see that Keith’s eyes were blown wide, and that he looked more ruffled than he had before. He was good at hiding it.

“Okay.” Lance was breathless and clearly not okay, but it wasn’t because of the boat. His pendant was a bluish lump beneath Keith’s shirt, which had gone semi-transparent. 

“Are you sure?” Keith asked. He wasn’t asking about how Lance felt about the boat anymore.

“I’m okay,” Lance said again. 

Keith was too close. Lance felt flustered, like he couldn’t breathe. 

 

_Kiss me on the mouth and set me free._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went to Supanova Sydney and was very inspired to write this today haha. I don't usually get it all done in one sitting, but I did today! I met a Lance cosplayer who was really charming, and he let me take a photo with him! ^///w///^ He even had the paladin armour ahhh, I feel like I met my idol haha. There were Dirty Laundry cosplayers too (though I haven't read that yet!) and so many cute Pidges. All the Voltron cosplayers looked amazing ^q^


	24. Island Marooned

His mind had gone blank. Lance tried to conjure up something to say, something smart or funny, but nothing escaped his lips aside from tiny, hitched gasps. His fingers twisted in the hem of Keith’s shirt where Keith couldn’t see. _So close so close so close._

For all his bravado, Lance was nothing but inexperienced and vulnerable in that moment.

But at least Keith was too. He’d curled his fingers around Lance’s wrist without Lance noticing, his fingertips digging marks into cold skin. Lance could feel the frantic thumping of Keith’s heart through the pulse in his fingers, though maybe he was confusing it for his own. He couldn’t tell where his nervousness began and Keith’s ended.

_You mustn’t ever kiss one on the mouth._

He inched closer. 

_It’ll create a bond of which the way to break is completely unknown, so you mustn’t._

Keith’s breath ghosted across his lips.

_Never fall in love with a human._

“Keith? Are you awake?”

A frightened jerk went through him. Lance threw himself off the deck before Shiro had even breached the stairs, racing to find comfort beneath the surface of the water. His heart was going to jump out of his chest. Above the water, he heard Keith shout an indignant, “Shiro!” but it did nothing to calm the anxiousness rolling through him. At least Keith sounded like felt exactly like Lance did: startled, and at least a little ashamed.

Lance swam until the light from the moon was no longer visible. He couldn’t hear the water over the pounding of his blood, so he took several deep breathes, and he composed himself. It would do him no good if something snuck up on him because he was a flustered mess.

_Sea God, what am I doing?_

 

Night eased into day as the sun chased the moon across the sky. Lance watched it from about fifteen tail lengths beneath the surface. His skin was becoming used to the sun, and although it made him feel somewhat tight and stiff, it wasn’t unbearable. Still, for the better part of the day, he travelled beneath the surface where the sun’s farthest light only just reached.

He could feel the pull of the full moon calling to him. It was like his body was racing to make up for the times he missed it, and no matter how hard he tried to shake it off, it persisted. He was worried about what would happen when he was out in the middle of the ocean without protection. Being in his home with his shoal meant protection. The open ocean meant the opposite.

The boat was cruising faster today. Lance blamed it on Shiro’s rush to find Matt and Pidge, and he could keep up with it in the morning, but by the time midday rolled around, his strength waned. Eventually he slowed, his mind wandering. The scent of the water had slowly been changing, morphing with the swelling and shrinking of distant tides. Something… enthralling. They were nearing an island, perhaps. The idea filled him with an unusual thrill.

Keith dropped into the water and swam over to him. “Lance? Is something wrong?”

Lance frowned at Keith, dazed. Why was Keith in the water? He shook his head to clear his thoughts. The boat had stopped, and the sensors on it had probably noticing him stopping, too. “I’m tired,” he said. “I can’t keep swimming that fast.”

Keith winced. “Right, right. Hold on, I’ll talk to Shiro.”

Lance drifted around while Keith was gone, trying not to lose his mind to the water. The currents were weak, almost non-existent in this part of the ocean, but he still felt like they were carrying him away. It was certainly the moon taking his consciousness elsewhere, but like usual, he had no will to fight it. 

Keith was away longer than Lance expected him to be. His face looked gaunt when he returned, brows furrowed in fading irritation. “Shiro is being impatient and unreasonable,” he said. He looked like he wanted to complain, but his tone was painfully even. “Do you think you can stand to be on the boat for a few hours?”

It was an easy enough question, but Lance’s addled mind fought to dissect it. “The sun…”

“I’ll take you below deck,” Keith said. “I know it’s too hot for you, I’m sorry. But it’s cool down there. I’ll make Shiro stop every hour so you can get back in the water for a bit. Will you be okay out of the ocean for that long?”

The words went in one ear and out the next. Lance tried to grasp them, frowning. Thinking of his own words in reply was much harder. “Its fine,” he choked out. “Just uncomfortable.”

Keith nodded. He was biting off another comment – Lance could see it hiding in the thin press of his lips – but he led Lance to the boat, regardless. Lance was still rocked by a sense of dread at the sight of it, but he squashed it down. He’d been on the boat once, so he could do it again. He wasn’t being trapped on it. He wasn’t being bound or captured. Maybe it would be safer out of unprotected waters, anyway. 

Keith left the water first, using the handrails to heave himself up. His hands reached down a moment later, taking Lance by the arms. Lance tried to help, beating his tail once or twice, but it didn’t do much. Keith called for Shiro to help, and with the both of them, Lance was pulled from the water, limp and gasping for air while his gills adjusted.

“I’ll take him below deck,” Keith said, rejecting Shiro’s offered hand of help. He groaned as he lifted Lance, tucking Lance’s tail over his arms to keep the bulk of him off the ground. His grip was precarious and just on the edge of painful, but Lance didn’t complain. He looped his arm around Keith’s neck and flicked his tail fins up, keeping them from dragging. Already the sun was starting to prickle at his skin, its midday heat too intense.

Like Keith had said, the shade below the deck was surprisingly cool. Lance let out a pleased sigh as his skin chilled, closing his eyes as he tilted his head back. There was no competition for the cold depths of the ocean, but for now, this was passable. 

The space beneath the deck was what Lance decided had to be a human den. Wooden floors echoed Keith’s footsteps and the dripping of water from Lance’s tail. There wasn’t much space, but enough to feel vaguely comfortable. Two large nests sat on opposite sides of the room, separated by a set of wooden drawers that housed a light-source on top. One nest was neatly made, the fabric pulled taut over its rectangular edges. The other was a mess, hastily scrambled out of. Lance could smell Keith’s scent coming from the latter. 

It was where Keith laid him down. The sheets soaked through immediately, a sensation Lance was very unfamiliar with. He pushed at them with a frown, and found the sheets to be very stiff. Whatever was beneath them was soft but unforgiving, unlike the downy cradles of moss merfolk normally slept in.

“They’re not the best mattresses, but they suffice,” Keith said, as he noticed Lance’s frown. “I’m going to get you a bottle of water, wait here.”

“Not like I can go anywhere,” Lance mumbled as he turned his face into one of the pillows. The fabric was cool against his cheek, which made him sigh. He didn’t like being out of the water, didn’t like feeling his skin dry. It would only be for a short time, he reasoned. Just an hour. 

He was asleep before Keith returned.

 

Sleeping outside of the water was a strange and uncomfortable experience. Lance’s skin dried much faster than the sheets did, and he ended up sticking to it in all the wrong places. The pillow, while originally cool, soon became hot. He could never fully slip into unconsciousness, not with Keith waking him up every hour. Sometimes Lance woke between the hours to Keith rubbing his skin with a heavy, damp cloth, one that smelled of salt water. It eased his discomfort, and had him producing pleased trills that always made Keith jump.

Afternoon fell, and with it came the rise of the moon. Lance was getting antsy, feeling the moon pull at a part of him usually hidden deep inside. He had forgone trying to sleep for the last hour, instead broodily making a mess of the bed sheets with his tail. When the boat started to slow, its engine spluttering to a stop, his attention piqued.

He could hear a tide. Water was rushing up to meet a shore, dragging sand and shells and debris with it. They were at an island. When he lifted his head to sniff at the air, he could smell vegetation, fresh with cold night air. Something mystic and unnameable made the island feel as though it were from a favoured story. 

Soon enough, voices joined the water’s noises. They were muffled by distance and the walls of the boat, and Lance had to strain to hear them. He couldn’t make out words, but the shouts of relief spoke more than words ever could. He recognised Pidge’s voice, but not the other. It must be Matt. Lance curled his tail closer, defensive. He was vulnerable on land, and had no weapons. His bond mate wasn’t with him, either.

The boat rocked as people either boarded or disembarked. Lance waited, completely silent, and then Keith descended down the stairs. The unease in Lance began to unravel.

“Shiro has gone to look at Matt and Pidge’s boat.” Keith looked wild and breathless, and it occurred to Lance that perhaps he’d been worried over Pidge and Matt, too. If he was, he had hidden it well. “We don’t have long, but I have to get you back into the water. We’re docked at-”

“An island, I know,” Lance said. He impatiently held his arms out, trying to be as weightless as possible as Keith lifted him up with another groan. “How long until sundown? I feel…” He couldn’t think of the right word.

Keith had the decency to look flushed as he turned his head away. “Maybe another hour, maybe less. I’ve never been this far down into the southern hemisphere.”

Lance had no idea what that meant but he nodded like he did.

Keith carried him back up on deck with a lot more struggling than it had taken to get him down it. Lance tried not to move, holding his tail and arms still. Keith was strong for a human, as Lance undoubtedly weighed more than him. 

“What are you going to do for the full moon?” Keith asked, as he gingerly set Lance down on the edge of the boat. His tail made a loud splash as it dipped into the water, but Lance was too distracted by the soothing coolness to worry about it. 

“I don’t know,” he said. The sky was turning orange now. Lance glanced around the boat towards the island; long rocky-sand shores stretched out on other side, populated by jagged boulders and tiny pools of water. The island itself was thick with vibrant green trees and likely had a fresh-water source somewhere on it. He doubted an island this far out into the ocean was populated by humans; there was no sign of them anywhere. Lance had grown so used to their presence that spotting its absence was easy. Something about this island specifically, however… “This moon feels… different.”

“Different? How?”

Lance glanced at his hands. He was used to the moon calling to him, used to the ocean carrying him along where it willed him, used to his thoughts becoming loose and malleable. He had even become used to spending the full moon so close to the surface of the ocean. 

But there was a strange pull beneath his skin, and that was something entirely foreign to him.

Keith glanced over his shoulder before sitting beside Lance. Their shoulders touched. Lance leaned into him, shrinking. Maybe it was hunger. Maybe his cycle had been thrown out. Maybe he was broken. He didn’t know, but this moon would be different somehow. He couldn’t tell if it was going to be good or bad or not.

“Are your friends okay?” Lance asked, his voice quiet.

Keith nodded. “Apparently, when the ship he and Shiro were on went down, some ocean conservation company fished Matt back up. He’s been working with them for a while fixing all the things Zarkon breaks. He was sent out to answer Pidge’s distress signal.”

“Must have been a surprise to see his brother, huh?”

Keith cracked a small smile. “Yeah, must of.”

Lance watched the water shift and coil around his tail. It was mesmerizing to see the water from above. Was this how humans saw the ocean? As a barrier, something prettier from above than below? He could see the appeal, but nothing was like home. Not for all the pretty sunsets in the world would he ever leave the deep.

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” Keith asked. He leaned closer, lifting a hand to move strands of half-dry hair from Lance’s face. It had grown a lot longer than he usually wore, the ends reaching past his eyebrows. “You look…” He didn’t seem to be able to think of the right word, either.

Lance let out a shaky sound and looked at his hands again. “There’s something about this island that’s lingering at the back of my mind,” he confessed. “I know I’ve never been here, but I’m worried I’ll find… _something,_ that I shouldn’t. Controlling myself when the moon is full isn’t easy.”

Keith reached back to tug his blade free of his suit, and pressed it into Lance’s hands. “Do you need this?”

He set the blade aside with a shake of his head. “No, it’s not that.” He hesitated, and closed his eyes. Stories from his childhood flowed through his mind like a steady trickle of water, washing anew memories he thought he had forgotten, or deemed unnecessary. Their species relied on stories for countless purposes – memory, history, warnings and prophecies, foretelling fortunes and deciding the food they hunted… Stories dictated the past, the present, and the future.

They were secrets humans had no place knowing.

But they stirred in Lance’s mind, begging to be told. He licked his lips, and met Keith’s searching eyes. “Have you ever heard of Moonset De-?”

A gasp behind them strangled Lance’s words. He whirled around and saw a man with a face frightfully like Pidge’s climbing into the boat, his body frozen with shock. Keith scrambled to his knees, half reaching for his discarded blade, half trying to hide Lance behind him.

But it was no use.

He’d been seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before I forget, I want to say thank you to those who draw fanart for my works! I'm always so surprised that people enjoy my work enough to draw something for it, it leaves me with a very rewarding feeling ^^ I've always forgotten to drop a link below each chapter, so I thought I'd leave some here now, if you'd like to see! 
> 
> There are [these](http://tane-p.tumblr.com/post/161285811407/mermay-day-31-fanart-for-moonset-deep-by) [stuning](http://tane-p.tumblr.com/post/160666354537/fanart-for-moonset-deep-by-fairydens-this-fic) drawings by [tane-p](http://tane-p.tumblr.com/) on tumblr 
> 
> [Bubleboobo](http://bubleboobo.tumblr.com/) on tumblr drew [this breathtaking piece](http://bubleboobo.tumblr.com/post/160408138217/moonset-deep-by-fairydens-updated-and-im-really) from a few chapters ago ^^ I couldn't have imagined it better if I tried, my heart still races seeing it ahh
> 
> [This perfectly broody Lance](http://koshkavinni.tumblr.com/post/156246577606/for-fairydens-fic-moonset-deep-i-finally-got) was drawn by [koshkavinni](http://koshkavinni.tumblr.com/) on tumblr, I just love his expression!
> 
> While I'm at it, I'll also drop links to these works I mentioned in an earlier chapter:
> 
> [An amazing mer!Lance](http://chiherah.tumblr.com/post/153719759863/a-very-pissed-off-merlance-heavily-inspired-by) drawn by [chiherah](http://chiherah.tumblr.com) on tumblr
> 
> And an amazing [video](http://rainbowderpyarts.tumblr.com/post/154406886209/never-fall-in-love-with-a-human-theyll-bond-you) about the Sea God story by [rainbowderpyarts](http://rainbowderpyarts.tumblr.com) on tumblr too~ ^^
> 
> I can't thank everyone enough for showing interest and support in my works! Writing is what I love to do, and my love for it only grows when I am able to give others a sense of enjoyment. I hope I can continue to write more both for this story and for others that you'll enjoy ❤


	25. Hidden Temples

“Matt, back off,” Keith warned, his fingers curling around Lance’s arm painfully tight.

“What…?” Matt stepped forwards, eyes fixed on Lance. 

Lance tensed, a snarl burning in his throat. He flared his fins and bared his teeth. Not even Keith’s protective grip could sooth his panic. When Matt stepped too close, he let out a screeching hiss and thumped his tail hard against the deck. The boards creaked under its weight.

Matt stumbled back, startled, and would have nearly tipped back off the boat if Shiro and Pidge hadn’t appeared behind him. “Shiro, what is…?”

“Keith, put your knife down,” Shiro said. He threw his arm across Matt, shifting him back. Pidge, hidden behind Shiro’s mass, kept a tight hold on his brother. “This isn’t a fight.”

Keith clenched his teeth – Lance could see the line of his jaw go sharp. He lowered his knife, but didn’t put it away. “You know what I said, Shiro,” Kith growled. “What I told you I wanted to happen. This isn’t it.”

“We have two boats to live on in the middle of the ocean, it was bound to happen eventually,” Shiro said. “Matt isn’t going to do anything to him.”

“That doesn’t matter, Shiro!” Keith pulled Lance closer. “It’s not your secret to share!”

Lance clenched his fingers in the back of Keith’s shirt. He wanted to escape into the water, but Keith’s grip kept him grounded. He could feel a rift growing, an argument deepening. Had Keith told Shiro to keep him a secret? Why hadn’t Shiro complied? Lance got the sense that Shiro believed maybe Keith wasn’t capable of making the right decisions.

To a human, siding with a merfolk may not have been the right one.

But Keith _was_ siding with him. Lance didn’t know how else to take what he was seeing. His mate was on his side.

“Point is, I asked you not to do something, and you allowed it to happen,” Keith accused. 

Shiro remained quiet.

Keith turned his head a fraction towards Lance. “Go,” he said, voice impossibly quiet. His grip slackened, and fell away. “I’ll come find you before moonrise.”

_Moonrise…_

“Make sure you do,” Lance whispered. Unease coiled in his stomach. “I have something I need to tell you.”

 

As always, the water welcomed him with open arms, bringing relief to his dry gills. He sunk far out of the reach of the sun and tried to clear his thoughts. The moon would be full that night, and already he could feel it dragging its searching fingers through his veins, trying to draw him under. It was just another burden to add to the weight on his shoulders.

The underside of the island they were marooned at was filled with wildlife. Lance spent hours amongst the vegetation growing from the bedrock, exploring cracks and chasms in the coral and stone. The wildlife, vegetation and otherwise, seemed strange in this place. He knew that it had something to do with the island, but the strange… _stasis_ that everything seemed to be in was unsettling. Fish moved slow, and were uncaring of his presence. The current hardly seemed to touch shifting weeds and grass.

Or him, for that matter. When he was under the spell of the moon he was always drifting along with the slightest current, carried along without will or reason. Islands were always places of movement, affected by shorelines and tides. This place was too still.

Nevertheless, he made himself eat, and tried to cool his head. It was comforting to explore a new place like this, even if he didn’t like the feel of the island. It reminded him of the shipwreck graveyard, when he’d drag Hunk along with him to see what the currents had tangled in its sails.

He closed his eyes. He missed his friends, and his family. His home.

“Lance?”

He opened his eyes. Keith was blindly paddling through the water, sinking lower and lower. There was no light down here, at least none that was seemingly accessible to human eyes. Instead lights were casting blue columns through the water from Keith’s helmet, moving back and forth as Keith turned his head. 

Lance drifted upwards, and grasped one of Keith’s outstretched hands. Keith jumped at the contact, but didn’t jerk away. 

“There you are,” Keith said, shaky. He didn’t stop himself from moving closer to Lance. “The ocean is big when you’re looking for one person, you know.”

He did know, but he didn’t say anything. The strange tremor in Keith’s voice concerned him, but he kept his mouth shut about that, too. When he was under the moon’s influence, his instincts drove themselves to the forefront of his mind, so he was far more tuned to the slight changes in Keith’s face and voice than usual. “What’s happening?”

Keith took a moment to compose himself. It was easy to tell when tension left him, but maybe Lance had just been looking long enough to know. “Shiro knows about how the moon affects you,” he said. That much was obvious – Shiro had been there during Lance’s captivity. “We’re staying here for tonight, but it looks like a storm is coming, so we’re going to take shelter on land.”

Lance startled. “You’re going onto the island?”

“No, I’m staying on the boat,” he said. “Shiro is trying to convince me not to, but I can’t leave you out here. It doesn’t feel safe.”

“You can… feel that, too?”

Keith frowned. “Feel what?”

“This island is making me uneasy,” Lance said. He glanced around, feeling a chill up his neck, but there was nothing there. “Come on, I want to show you something.”

Keith didn’t protest as Lance led him further into the depths. He held onto Lance’s hand, but when that didn’t work well enough against the weight of the water, he moved a hand to Lance’s waist, instead. His fingers splayed over the place where blue scales met dark skin. It felt good.

“Here,” Lance said, when they reached the coral crags. “Look.”

Keith did. The light from his helmet swept back and forth across the speckled rocks. Corals furled when the light fell across them, shrinking away. Fish took a moment too long to do the same. “They’re slow,” he said. “Is it because they’re not used to the light?”

“No, they reacted the same to me. I’m a predator, they should hide as soon as they sense me coming, and yet...”

“Do you think it’s the island? Or the moon?”

“I… don’t know yet,” Lance said. “The current is so weak here, I’ve never felt it before, not when the moon is rising. This island, I think it’s housing something I shouldn’t be near.”

“Housing something?” A stricter frown came to Keith’s face. His hand on Lance’s waist tightened. “What do you mean?”

Lance shook off Keith’s grip, feeling jittery. He turned towards the coral and swam along its edge, trailing his fingers across the bumps and ridges of the rock. Keith followed. “I told you about the Sea God, didn’t I?”

Keith nodded. “He fell in love with a human, right?”

Lance nodded too. “This isn’t about that, though. When the Sea God lived,” he paused, feeling doubt swell in him. Should he really share his kind’s most sacred tales? He closed his eyes and pressed on. “When the Sea God lived, it’s said that he created his most dear creations in each four corners of the ocean.”

“But the ocean doesn’t have corners-”

Lance shot Keith a sharp look, and he wisely quietened. Lance turned away to continue, and swum a little faster to make Keith keep up, just to be weakly spiteful. “The most vital creation was life,” Lance told him. “Breathable life, something to sustain what could be, what was. He created plants, and flowers. They were his vitality, our vitality.” 

Keith followed his gaze to a tuft of dark grass bursting from between two rocks. 

“The Sea God’s most vulnerable creation was the living,” Lance continued. He snagged a slow fish from between the grass blades and let it drift around the cage of his fingers. It seemed hypnotized by his gaze, and when he gently held out his hands and opened his palms, it swam straight for Keith to circle the pendant floating around his neck. “The Sea God created creatures. Fish, urchins, corals… guppies and whales and sharks… all of them. They were his vulnerability made into flesh and bone. His anguish over his immortality made into scales and fins. They represented what he could never have – death.”

Keith watched the little fish, his face coloured with surprise. It continued to circle the pendant until Lance’s voice lapsed into silence, and then it darted away, as if a spell had been broken. “Vitality and vulnerability,” he whispered to himself.

“Thirdly, the Sea God created the tides.” Lance swept out his hands, fingers pressed flat. Water rushed past Keith’s helmet, leaving little silver bubbles to scramble across the glass. “Life cannot live in stasis, and the Sea God knew that. It’s said that he caught the moon with a rope made from his hair so that the oceans could be encouraged to move.”

“He caught the moon?”

A small smile danced across Lance’s lips. “Supposedly.”

“Vitality, vulnerability, and tides,” Keith said. “That’s only three.”

Lance stopped moving. He turned his face to the side to glance at Keith, but couldn’t look at him for long. “The next thing the Sea God made was his most cherished creation,” he said, voice quiet. “The Sea God loved them more than he loved the oceans, more than he loved himself. More than anything. Anything at all.”

Keith was silent for a moment. Then, he whispered, “The Sea God made you.”

Lance nodded. “In the last corner of the ocean, he made merfolk. Creatures to call his own, to nurture and to comfort, to guide through life and welcome in death. He made us a perfect world to live in, and thus made us in perfection, where the ocean’s coldest and purest water met a full moon’s light untainted.”

“Lance, I love hearing these stories,” Keith said, as he touched a hand to the small of Lance’s back, “but I don’t understand why you’re telling me them.”

“Because they’re not just stories,” Lance snapped. He wasn’t trying to be mean, but he felt exposed, like he’d been yanked from the water for the first time again. “These places where the Sea God made our world really exist. Back when merfolk spanned the entire length of the ocean, we had temples surrounding the corners; protecting them, maintaining them. Stopping those with impure hearts from entering.”

“Have you been to one?”

“No,” Lance said. He shook his head. “Maybe, I don’t know. I can’t remember. I’m not old enough to be near them, Keith. I can’t resist their draw. They call to me stronger than a full moon does.”

“Are they dangerous?”

“Without my parents to protect me? Without my older brothers and sisters? I think they could be.” He clutched at his own arms. “These tales are sacred, Keith. All merfolk know them – some version of them – but we don’t share them outside of our shoals. Definitely not with a human.”

“Why tell me, then?” Keith asked. “You could be in trouble for sharing them, Lance. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Because it’s important,” Lance said. He paused. Licked his lips. “Because I trust you.”

Shock made Keith’s eyes wide.

“I wouldn’t share these parts of my people if I thought it could be helped,” he whispered. “I’m worried that maybe…”

The pieces fell into place – Lance could see it all click in Keith’s head. Keith inched closer, as if he wanted to draw Lance away from the wall of coral and rock before him. “Is this one of those places? The temples?”

Lance closed his eyes and listened to the ocean. Stillness greeted him, life slowed down by something inexplicable. The absent currents, the unaware fish, the sleepy corals… it was too strange to put aside as anything other than what it was. 

“Is it dangerous for you to be here?” Keith demanded. “We have to leave-” Keith tried to pull him away, but Lance remained steadfast. “Lance?”

“Keith, I can’t,” he said.

“Why?”

Lance lifted his watery gaze to Keith’s. “I _can’t.”_

An unnameable expression passed over Keith’s face. His fingers were around Lance’s wrist, but they turned gentle. Fingertips rubbed over where his pulse raced. “What can I do? What’s going to happen?”

“I don’t know,” Lance said. He took a moment to settle his nerves with a shaky exhale. “If this is actually a temple, then I think it must be the one where the Sea God created tides. Everything here is too slow, too lax. If it were the others, I think there would be more… activity. And I know it’s not the one where he created my species.”

“You do?”

Lance nodded.

“How do you know?”

“We have names for the temples,” Lance said. “I tried to tell you before.”

Realisation flickered through Keith’s eyes. “On the boat.”

Lance nodded again. “Like us, the things created by the Sea God are affected by the moon. Life only occurs when the waters are stirred. Motion creates oxygen and migration instincts, so the phases of the moon – the force that drives the water – are important. At least, that’s our best guess, for the whole full moon thing. It’s what we believe.”

“Then does the moon affect the temples?”

“The stories say so,” Lance said. Keith’s quick thinking still caught him off guard at times. “The first three temples are not like the ones that created merfolk. They’re similar, or related somehow. It’s like they have a bloodline binding them, even if they’re just places.”

“You said they had names,” Keith said.

“We call them the Moonrise Shallows,” Lance said. “When the moon goes up, the water thins, taking on its purest form. It’s said that the light that filters into Moonrise Shallows is enough to bring a glow to all the ruins and friezes contained in the temple.”

“Moonrise Shallows,” Keith murmured to himself. “And the last temple? The one where the Sea God created merfolk?”

A strange feeling swelled over Lance. All his life he’d been told story after story about the Sea God and his life. His achievements, his downfalls, his anguishes and his greatest loves. Lance’s memory of the place with cold water had reminded him of the temples, about what that place had undoubtedly been. Even with a mind made blurred by the rising moon, the memory persisted.

He’d been there before, he was sure of it. Not inside the temple, but near enough to feel its pull, to taste the scent of purity on the water. 

“Lance?” Keith touched his face, as soft as a baby’s fins.

He took in a shaky breath and let the name fall from his lips. “Moonset Deep.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for the long wait, I've had a bit of a rough time lately. Hopefully things will be getting better now aha ^^ I'm planning on going to SMASH in Sydney this month and uni seems to be settling a bit ^^ I do hope that this chapter is enjoyable! I really love to write storytelling like this ^^


	26. Rising Instincts

The weight of revealing a part of all merfolk’s history weighed on Lance like a squirming sea snake; impossible to grasp and completely unignorable. He wasn’t sure if it was guilt or shame or relief coiling and uncoiling and recoiling in his stomach.

If Keith noticed, he didn’t say anything. He held onto Lance’s shoulders as Lance continued exploring the bottom of the island. There were crags and dips in the bedrock where water sometimes flowed faster than usual, though considering the stillness surrounding the island, it wasn’t much. Keith’s hands, even gloved, were distracting him in his endeavour. There wasn’t anything inherently sensual about those hands, except the fact that they belonged to Keith. If Lance let his mind drift, then he could almost believe that the tight hold Keith had on him had more to do with wanting him close than it did with trying not to get lost in the bottom of the ocean.

He blamed the moon.

“What are you looking for?” Keith asked. He’d been pliant and quiet for a while now, but Lance wasn’t sure how long that would last.

He struggled to find the words to answer Keith. What _was_ he looking for? “I’m not sure,” he answered, “an entrance, maybe. Something.”

“Entrance?”

“In.”

“Into the temple?” Keith couldn’t hide his apprehensive surprise. “Is that even possible?”

Lance shrugged, unsure. He couldn’t remember going to the temples – part of him had always believed they were just stories, but everything in the world was rooted in some sort of truth, even myths. Maybe Moonset Deep was the perfect example of that. If that place he vaguely remembered – the one with water so cold he felt like every scale he had was frozen straight through – was Moonset Deep, then the temples could all still be standing. He didn’t know if it meant anything, but the moon drew him to find a way in more than he’d ever been drawn to anything before. 

Even more than he was drawn to Keith.

But thinking that made him feel guilty, so he held tighter onto his mate, and swam deeper. Maybe the temple would give him answers about his problem – namely, the fact that he was bonded to a human. He felt lost just thinking about it. He still had Zarkon to worry about, and the other humans that knew about him, and getting home… when it came down to it, he didn’t even consider his bond to Keith a problem anymore. He didn’t know if that was a bad thing or not.

Eventually it became clear that the cold and the pressure of the deep was making Keith uncomfortable. The moon deepened Lance’s connection to his most basic instincts, and that extended to Keith’s wellbeing through their bond. Even if he hadn’t felt Keith’s fingers tense against his shoulders, he would have known to return to the surface.

The boats were slumped against the shoreline now, but there was a sudden dip in the bedrock that gave Lance more than enough room to get to one’s edge. He waited for Keith to heave himself onto the deck before sinking beneath the surface, restless. His exploration of the island’s belly had made his desperate need to stay close to it temporarily abate, but it wouldn’t be long before he was pulled back.

“Lance?” Keith called, as he peered over the railing.

Lance didn’t resurface.

A voice over his shoulder distracted Keith, and his figure briefly disappeared. Lance was too focused listening to the ocean to hear what the humans were discussing. How many hours until sundown? Not many now. The sky had started to bleed orange, and soon it would go black. Lance could already feel chills running beneath his skin.

“Lance.”

This time, he rose to the surface. Something in Keith’s voice had changed, and it beckoned him up into the air. He spent a moment gasping, head bowed forwards, before he gripped the edge of the boat and pulled himself up. “What is it?”

Keith crouched on the deck, helmet discarded to the side but suit still on. He set a thin glowing box on the deck in front of Lance. “Look here.” He pointed to the glowing surface, so Lance looked closer. There was a black mass in the middle, surrounded by little glowing dots that blipped in and out repeatedly. Some were large, others small, but they were all moving towards the centre.

Lance glanced up at Keith, confused.

“This is where we are,” Keith said. He pointed at the black mass. “It’s the island. These forms are animals.”

Lace focused on the glowing dots. “There’s a lot,” he managed to say.

“That’s the problem. This scanner isn’t powerful enough to pick up heat signals from fish or crustaceans – anything smaller than a metre won’t show up. But the rest will, and that’s the problem.”

Lance wasn’t sure how long a metre was, but he could guess. “So these are sharks or whales?”

“Both.” Keith turned the glowing box back towards himself, frowned, and closed it. Pidge appeared over his shoulder to take it, but didn’t disappear back into the boat. 

“Do you know why all the wildlife is suddenly coming in this direction?” Pidge asked. He knelt beside Keith and passed him a thin tool, one that Keith used to fiddle with something on his helmet. 

Lance flattened his fins back, bristling. He knew that given a choice between humans – specifically the humans they had for company – and Lance’s safety, Pidge would choose the former. Lance might have been inclined to share his secrets with Keith, but the rest of them?

“No.”

Keith glanced up for a moment, but didn’t comment. 

The truth was, Lance had a pretty good idea why the smartest creatures in the ocean were converging. It was a full moon, and if the temple still stood, then the tides would draw them to it. Even if sharks and whales and fish didn’t feel the same lunar pull that merfolk did, the temples could make exceptions. At least, that’s what he thought.

Pidge looked between him and Keith, then stood. “With so many large masses in one place, there’s no way we can avoid the scanners that Zarkon has. If no one here,” Pidge looked pointedly at Keith, who didn’t acknowledge the comment, “knows what’s going on with this island, then we need to leave it. Now. Zarkon will be on us in less than a day if he catches sight of this convergence.”

Keith dug the tool particularly hard into his helmet, and something clicked in place. He pushed the tool back into Pidge’s hand and looked up. His eyes were guarded. “Thanks.”

It was a dismissal if Lance had ever seen one. He shrunk against the boat, feeling like an intruder. 

Pidge gave Keith a displeased look, but left. Keith watched him drop onto the shore and head towards the second boat before hunching into his shoulders, turning away. Lance made an inquisitive trill, and Keith looked at him. 

“It’s nothing.” He sighed and set his helmet down. He checked over his shoulder and moved closer, dangling his legs over the edge. “Just a disagreement. Is there a reason all those animals are coming here?”

“You didn’t tell them about the temples.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Why?”

Keith paused. “Because it’s not my secret. Do you want me to tell them?”

“No.”

“Then I won’t.”

Lance pressed his forehead against the side of the boat to hide his relief. He didn’t doubt his mate for a moment. It was a little frightening how easily he believed Keith when he was like this. Everything inside him was tangled up, rationality and instincts tumbling over one another and overlapping until he couldn’t tell if he was thinking of Keith as Keith or as his mate.

“Lance?”

“I need to go back to find the temple entrance,” Lance said. Keith’s hand came down on top of his before he could release the edge of the boat.

“Wait, I’m coming with you.”

“That’s not…”

Keith waited for him to protest, but the words wilted. “Just… give me ten minutes. I need to eat something and tell Shiro I’m going down. He’s not going to like it, but I have a feeling it’s going to be safer down there, anyway.” He glanced up – the sky was dark with clouds, all orange from the sun drained away. “Probably.”

Lance had never experienced a storm above the surface. Deep in the ocean, storms didn’t affect him, or his shoal. Waters could grow rough or cold, of course, but avoiding currents was easy when one knew what to look for. 

“Just wait near the surface, okay?” Keith asked. “I won’t be long.”

Reluctantly, Lance nodded. It wasn’t an order, not a firm one, but Lance felt compelled to fulfil it. He sunk beneath the waves and drifted beneath the boat. A big part of him wanted to leave the shoreline, maybe find food before he was too muddled to think about it, but a small part of him encouraged him to follow after Keith. A small, pendant-shaped part.

He followed Keith along the shore as he trekked across the sand to the second boat. It was harder for Lance to get close to it. The boat was directly against the sand, pulled up where the shoreline gently sloped away into shallow waters. There was only so far he could swim without risking exposure.

“You can’t stay down there all night, Keith.”

Lance’s head perked up at the sound of Shiro’s voice. He didn’t sound happy.

“It’s not your decision to make, Shiro.”

“There’s a storm coming. Do you know how dangerous the ocean is?”

“I know damn well how dangerous the ocean is, but I’m not leaving Lance alone. You’re the one that said there’s something up with this island. What if something happens to him?”

“He’s a _mermaid._ What’s going to happen?”

“Nothing, because I’m going to be with him,” Keith said, stubborn. 

“What about all those sharks and whales coming here?” Pidge suddenly said. “We can’t stay, we already discussed this.”

“We can’t go anywhere in a storm,” Shiro said. “Not even to the other side of the island. It shouldn’t last more than a few hours, right Matt?”

“That’s what the scanners are saying, yeah.”

“Then we can leave in the middle of the night.”

“We can’t,” Keith argued, “not without Lance. We promised to take him home, Shiro. You said that after we’d rescued Matt we’d take him back home. He deserves that.”

Whatever Shiro said next was too low for Lance to hear. Whatever it was, it didn’t sound good. He circled around the boat, dragging his fingers through the sand in the shallows. He was so distracted trying to listen to the humans that he wasn’t paying attention to the ocean, not until a sound caught his ears. He paused and listened. 

It was still far off, but there were definitely creatures coming closer. Sharks, pods of whales, maybe large schools of fish – Lance could hear the low hum of movement they made. If he hadn’t been under the moon’s spell, they might have made him apprehensive.

He had to go deeper. He pushed his head above the surface and let out an impatient trill as he circled the end of the boat. Footsteps sounded against the deck and then Keith appeared, closely followed by Shiro.

“You stay back there, Matt,” Keith said over his shoulder as he pulled his gloves back on. “He doesn’t trust you.”

“What’s wrong with him?” Pidge demanded. “He’s never made that noise before.”

“It’s the moon. I need to go, he doesn’t want to stay near the surface anymore.”

“But how do you know that?”

“I just do, Pidge!”

It was strange to hear Keith raise his voice. His eyes were flashing with impatience, but there was something more to it, something more… _instinctual._

Lance didn’t want to think about it.

“Keith, stop,” Shiro grabbed for Keith’s arm to hold him still. “This is reckless. This isn’t you. You can’t go jumping into the ocean just because you feel like it. It’s not safe.”

Something angry jumped across Keith’s face. Lance keened, and the noise had the anger disappearing, gone as quickly as it came. He shook off Shiro’s hand. “You don’t control me. I’m doing what’s right.”

A sudden gust of wind rocked the boat. Lance shivered as it scraped against his exposed skin, escaping beneath the comfort of the waves. The tide was rising as the moon ballooned across the sky, but the water beneath it was churning, becoming restless as the storm approached. Keith took the moment of confusion to jump off the boat, his feet sinking into the shallows.

“Keith!” Shiro reached for him but Keith had already waded out, his eyes scanning the water.

“I’ll be back by morning, Shiro,” Keith reminded him as he pulled his helmet on. “Let me do this.”

“Keith, I get that you’re angry at me-”

“This isn’t about you!” Keith snapped. “This is about Lance. I’m not going to leave him again!”

As the water rose to Keith’s chest, Lance swam closer, eager for his mate’s touch. Keith met him halfway, disappearing beneath the surface in a spray of silver bubbles. His hands found Lance’s neck, tentatively sliding across his skin to loop around his shoulders. Lance curved his tail away from the shore, lifting one hand to hold onto Keith’s arm as he beat his tail.

The light from the full moon soon disappeared as darkness pressed closer.

Lance crooned soothingly, but his mate made no noise back. He swam deeper and deeper, responding to the pull in his stomach, the one that told him to search, to find. He called again and again, expanding his voice, drawing forth noises that begged for a reply.

And, after what felt like a millennia, something responded.

Corals along the rock walls beneath the island unfurled as his voice washed over them. Like a wave they each lit up blue, just for a moment, before his voice echoed away and they were bathed in darkness once more. Lance drifted closer, and called out again. The corals lit up as his voice passed through them, lighting a pathway further into the depths, where he had yet to search.

He followed their lights. Deeper and deeper he swam, guided in by the corals. Sometimes it was easy to forget that corals were animals, that they had the capability to move themselves almost as though they were sentient. They reminded him of the glowing crystals his shoal used to light the way at home. 

“Lance?” Keith whispered. “Down there.”

Lance followed where his mate was pointing. He trilled and the coral responded, lighting up to reveal a hollow in the sea floor. Lance could feel the smallest pull brushing against his scaled from a current that slipped beneath the stone, leading in underneath the island.

They’d found the entrance.


	27. Merfolk Ruins

The entrance to the temple was almost too small for Lance to fit through with Keith clinging to his back. The passageway was crumbling, worn down by time and the tides. Lance kept one hand pressed firmly around Keith’s back, his eyes alight with curiosity and weariness. The moon made him feel loose limbed and hazy, but an instinctual part of him knew that he had to protect his human mate.

Glowing corals unfurled long, ferny stems as Lance squeezed past them. They were the only light in the passageway until Keith switched a light on in his helmet. Lance blinked as his eyes adjusted. He could see perfectly well in the dark, but his mate couldn’t. Now that the passage was lit up, his mate seemed to shrink further into Lance’s back. 

“It’s narrow,” he murmured.

Lance nodded. There was more than enough space for a merfolk to slip through, but humans didn’t seem as flexible as merfolk did, so squeezing through the narrow gaps was difficult. He didn’t want to let go of his mate so he only had one hand to help navigate through the smaller sections. When his mate winced or bumped into the cavern walls he made apologetic coos and slowed down, reluctant to let his mate suffer even a tiny scratch. 

Eventually the rock walls fell away, revealing a spacious cavern. Shafts of moonlit filled the entire space through cracks in the cavern’s high ceiling, turning the water a pale, luminous blue. Had the passage led them back upwards? Lance took a cautionary sniff, trying to identify the scents. The water smelt clean and pure, but there was something more. Something earthy and old and untouched. He was certain they’d travelled closer to the centre of the island, despite being beneath it. The light filtering down meant they were likely beneath a lagoon.

“What is this place?” Keith asked.

His bewildered sentiment was one that Lance felt echoed in himself. The cavern was so large that he couldn’t see it all in one glance. It wasn’t made by tides: the walls were straight and smooth, intersected by rounded columns that held the ceiling upright. Neat paths wound through the uneven floor, lifted and dipped in places by short flights of stairs. If the grand, delicate architecture hadn’t been enough to tell Lance that this cavern was made by merfolk, then the decorative tiles would have.

The tiles were fractured and broken in places, displaced by growing corals and moss that bridged the gaps between cracks. Lance released Keith to drift down to the floor. The moss was cool and soft beneath his fingers, and when he extended a hand towards the corals sprouting along a rise in the ground, they began to glow. 

He’d never seen anything like this. He traced his eyes along the patterns on the tiles, swimming slowly to follow a line of pale blue that wound around the path cut into the stone floor. There were other arched exits evenly spaced along the walls. His mind was racing. Who had swam the length of these paths? Who laid these tiles, painted their designs? 

“Lance,” his mate called.

Lance looked towards him.

Keith was floating just above the ground. His head was turned up towards the wall, where the light from his helmet cut a harsh line across the tiles. While Lance’s eyes lingered on Keith, it wasn’t his mate that caught his attention – it was what Keith was looking at: the wall in front of him. 

Illuminated by the watery moonlight was the Sea God.

Or at least a frieze of him. 

He was just as breathtaking as the stories told. The frieze didn’t give an accurate portrayal of merfolk anatomy, but that didn’t matter. It was beautiful.

The Sea God was the largest figure. His scales higher up his hips than a normal merfolk’s did before fading away into blue-coloured skin. It was impossible for Lance to decide what colour his scales were – blues and golds and silvers and greens glittered, so blended between the tiles that he couldn’t tell where one colour ended and the next began. Long hair coiled around the Sea God’s face, as pale and silky as the moon itself. There had never been anything to say he was male, despite the pronouns most commonly used, and this frieze took advantage of that obscurity to give him a soft and feminine face. The tiles didn’t allow for facial features, but Lance could see the Sea God’s gills, and his painted nails. As beautiful was the tiles were, they were nothing in comparison to the Sea God’s tail.

His tail was long and coiled in a way normal tails couldn’t bend, but there was nothing uncomfortable about it. Whoever had painted the Sea God had done so with care and reverence. He had vast tailfins that tapered off into strong, translucent points, and the same feathery fins jutting from his hips that most merfolk sported. Lance’s eyes lingered on his tail, but he could never take it all in.

“What is this?” Keith asked. He sounded only hollow, like the foreign God before him had rendered him speechless.

Lance swam closer, and hesitated before laying his palm flat against the tiles. It was impossible to see all the details this close, but he still traced his hand up the Sea God’s tail, following the loop and the gentle glide of his fins. At the centre of the frieze, the Sea God’s hands were clasped around the staff of a golden sceptre, atop which sat a glowing blue orb. When Lance inspected it, he saw what was inside – the ocean. Painted waves tumbled over themselves, pushing against the boundaries of the orb in the same way they pushed against a sandy shore.

It was mesmerizing.

“Lance, all of the walls have paintings on them,” Keith said, as he slowly spun around, eyes wide and brows furrowed.

He wasn’t wrong. Lance took in the other scenes displayed on the walls. None were as grand as the Sea God, but that didn’t make them any less interesting. There were scenes of merfolk travelling, and of merfolk carrying treasures – gems, sea glass bowls and dishes, intricate carvings – that were to be laid at the tail of a large depiction of the Sea God. Another wall told the story of the four temples, with images representing each legend – tides and schools of glittering fish and vibrant plant life and merfolk all formed intricate patterns that drowned the eyes in detail. Some of the depictions looked real, others didn’t. 

“I’ve never seen friezes like this…” Lance murmured, more to himself than Keith. He felt hypnotised by what he saw.

“Lance, is that a human?”

He turned to face the wall Keith was pointing at. It wasn’t as illuminated as the others, instead falling partially into shadow where something had fallen to block the open holes in the ceiling. 

The frieze did look like a human. They stood before the Sea God, hands clasped. Like before, there were no facial features painted onto the tiles, but Lance knew that this was the human the Sea God had loved. 

Something painful twinged in his chest. 

The story in those tiles felt different to the rest. They weren’t about the Sea God’s origin, or the making of the oceans. They weren’t beautiful in the way the other stories were beautiful. 

“Lance?” Keith said, when Lance remained silent.

Seeing the betrayal of the Sea God played out in art made something uncomfortable and uneasy tighten in Lance’s stomach. He knew the story – the Sea God fell in love with a human, a beautiful one, but not even beauty could quell the greed that grew in those who walked on land. The Sea God’s scales were stolen, and the bond between the Sea God and the human was destroyed by the Sea God’s fierce desire to protect his people from the evil the humans had shown him. It was why merfolk were warned away from humans; not only because their kisses were binding, but because their greed was as bottomless as the darkest depths of the ocean.

Lance twisted around, slowly bringing his tail into view. His missing scale was an ugly, hideous mark, and when he touched it, a lingering feeling of pain rippled through him. He glanced back at the frieze, eyes following the story. The Sea God and his human stood with their hands clasped, and then again with their heads were bent together, faces hidden by the Sea God’s long, misty hair. The next scene was the Sea God in the ocean, his tail obscured by a boundless spread of black paint, while his beloved fled the raging ocean.

There was something in the paintings that was begging to be understood. Lance curled his fingers around the wound on his tail, his eyes riveted to the scene before him. What wasn’t he understanding?

“Lance?” Keith edged closer, until his fingers covered Lance’s, drawing them away from his tail. “Are you okay?”

He didn’t know. There was something important hidden in the paintings, but he didn’t know what. His thoughts churned but the moon made him slow and no matter how long he scrutinised the tiles they did not reveal their secrets. 

“Lance?”

He made an unsure whimper. It was a noise not even a human could misinterpret. 

Keith drifted in front of him, pulling Lance closer by the hands. “Hey, what’s wrong?” He asked, as he rubbed his thumb across Lance’s fingers. “What is this place?”

Lance glanced away. His eyes roamed the walls again but nothing new sprung to mind. He closed his eyes. He felt dizzy and overwhelmed, and the water in the temple was so still that it was starting to feel suffocating. How could a place where legend said the tides were made be so stagnant? He wanted to leave, but he knew he couldn’t. 

“Lance, you have to tell me how you’re feeling, or else I can’t understand,” Keith said. He cupped Lance’s cheek, trying to catch his attention. In the end, it was the light glinting off the pendant hanging from his neck that caught Lance’s eye. He grabbed onto it, curling it in his fist as he took a deep breath. He felt like his mind was tumbling and folding in on itself, like the moon’s intensity had increased.

How could he explain how he felt?

“Back home,” he started. The words drifted away almost as soon as he’d said them, and he needed to take a sharp inhale to get them to resurface. “There are these little fish back home… really small ones. Whenever the crystals in the den would glow, they’d all flood towards them, like there was something they… they desperately needed.”

“Like moths to a flame,” Keith whispered.

Lance had no idea what that meant, and his incredulous, spaced out look made Keith wince and shake his head. “That’s how I feel,” Lance said. “Like a little fish with a glowing crystal, except the temple is the crystal.”

“It’s okay, I get it,” Keith said. “You can’t leave here, can you? At least, not until the moon goes down.”

Lance nodded. He uncurled his fingers from around his pendant and let out a shaky breath. Keith’s fingers travelled up the back of his neck, cradling the back of his head. He closed his eyes against the affectionate touch and trilled. Keith seemed surprised by the noise, but his lips twitched up into a smile, and he did it again.

“Your eyes are glowing,” Keith murmured, as he touched his other hand against Lance’s cheek once more. When Lance glanced up at him, that twitchy smile reappeared. “They’re beautiful.”

Lance’s eyes widened a fraction. His mate’s compliments made heat coil low in his belly. He smiled too, and pushed his tail against Keith’s legs, his tailfins flickering. It was an affectionate gesture to return his mate’s compliments. He’d always been told to fear humans, that they were greedy and cruel and selfish, that even the Sea God had fallen victim to their wants. Maybe his human was different. His human held his face gently and was considerate of his feelings and had kept his pendant safe.

Lance glanced over at the frieze, his eyes lingering on the Sea God.

Could his human really be different?

“The mark on his tail,” Keith said, as he followed Lance’s gaze, “is that where his scales were taken from?”

He couldn’t answer. His mate glanced at his tail, and Lance felt a wave of shame roll through him. There was no merfolk in the entirety of the ocean that would want a mate with a damaged tail. It was ugly and repulsive and _permanent._ No scale would regrow. Nothing could cover the place where it had left a scar. 

“Don’t,” Keith said, sounding oddly breathless, “don’t think whatever you’re thinking. This… this wasn’t your fault.” He closed his eyes and swallowed whatever words were threatening to spill from his lips. Like an afterthought, he tilted his head forwards, until the rounded panel of his helmet bumped against Lance’s forehead.

He was hit by a pang of longing. What would his mate’s skin feel like if they did that without the barriers? Without the moon making everything hazy and bright and blue?

“I wish I could kiss you,” Keith whispered.

Lance’s breath caught.

_Kiss me on the mouth and set me free._

He pressed his palm flat against the helmet, trying to ground himself against something real, something safe. When he pressed his lips against the back of his palm, he felt like every piece of him was falling away, leaving someone vulnerable and unsure behind. Keith’s hand tightened around the back of his neck, cradling him close as his eyes fluttered shut.

Kissing a human tied him to them inevitably. He’d always been told to stay away from humans, to never kiss one, because the way to break the bond created by a kiss was completely unknown.

And yet, and yet…

He _hadn’t_ kissed Keith. Not really, not _yet,_ but the bond was there. So why did it still feel wrong to want to love him, too?

Lance jerked away and tried to ignore the confused little noise his mate made. He glanced back at the friezes, but immediately cowered, feeling chastised. The Sea God’s wound glared at him like a warning. 

He needed space.

“Stay,” Lance said, as he backed away from his mate, his hand outstretched to keep him from following. “Stay here.”

“Lance-” Keith reached out for him, pendant glinting, but Lance took his hands and urged them back against Keith’s chest.

“For now,” he said. “I’ll be back.”

Keith nodded. “Okay.” His voice was flat.

Lance hesitated. He reached forwards to touch Keith’s helmet with shaking fingertips. “I’ll be back,” he repeated. And then he chose an entryway and disappeared between its arched columns, desperate to escape into the depths of the temple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today is the 1000th day in a row I've written something, so I really wanted to get this chapter done! It's not my favourite one, but I think it's important to balance the action with Keith and Lance's development, so I hope it's still enjoyable to read! ^^


	28. God's Heartbreak

The corridors were in a worse state than the frieze hall had been. Every wrong turn brought Lance to a collapsed wall of stone, a cascade of boulders through which only tunnels of distant light could pass through, a place where something or someone or even the tides themselves had worn away the ceiling, until it had eventually collapsed under the weight of the ocean above. 

Something sickly like panic coiled in his stomach, tinged blue with the haze of a full moon. He was sluggish, his mind lured in a dozen different directions, but his pulse raced, creaking and groaning through his veins. Every blocked passage he came across felt like more than what it was. It was a question with suspended answers, hope with no ground to rest on, a part of his people that he was forbidden from ever seeing. He could never know the true depths of the temple, could never know what his ancestors or even the Sea God had made beyond the walls of collapsed stone before him.

However, what he did find was no less otherworldly than the friezes. The architecture of the temple made him still inside; a subconscious part of him trying to make connections. He realised what it was that was jolting his thoughts soon enough: luxury.

Decadence dripped from the walls. Flagrantly decorative capitals topped every tall column. An intense rarity of colour pigments stained every tile used to make friezes and mark pathways. Richness bloomed in every image, breathing life. Arched entryways were carved with merfolk so detailed that Lance feared they’d slink away from the walls to guide him in impossibly deeper. Their arms were outstretched, forming the upper archways, wrists wrapped in armoured guards. When he peered closer, there were tiny fish carved into their curling hair, little shells imbedded along their collars, tiny gems studded rhythmically between their overlapping scales. 

It wasn’t just the excessive indulgence of architecture that made Lance feel overcome with something unnameable. It was what he found within the chambers and halls, too.

One room had been lined with vases perched on a shelf cut into the stone wall. Each had a different scene on its curved surface, painted with the most vibrant colours Lance had ever seen. Some had spiralling handles made from pure metal. Others had lids topped with a glittering gem. He didn’t dare touch anything as he swam past the vases, eagerness to explore still brimming in his stomach.

He’d found another room with carving in the ceiling that went so deep it reached the upper limits of the temple. Where the blue light fell through from above, a picture was made from shadows along the floor. He’d swam beneath those glowing beams, feeling as though they warmed his skin. Only when he reached the loftiest part of the room had he noticed the image that the carved shape and its subsequent play of shadows and light made: the Sea God. His head was at one end of the room, his long tail at the other. There was so much detail in the shadows that for a moment Lance doubted they could possibly be real; he could see scales on the Sea God’s tail, could see strands of hair, could see the crown of shells and gems he wore. But no, it was real – Lance passed his hand through the light and watched details disappear below.

When he came across the heart of the temple, he forgot about everything he could no longer see.

If possible, the chamber he came across was even bigger than the frieze hall. The entire temple felt less like a series of interconnected rooms and more like an entire city carved out from beneath an island, this room more so than the rest. 

Like before, a series of pathways marked the floor, where moss and glowing corals peered up through cracks in the decorative stone. There were small stone podiums along the way, but whatever treasures had once rested upon them were long gone. 

At the very centre of the room was an ornate podium, bigger and taller than the others. It was surrounded by six columns that held up a small, slanted roof made of stone. In the centre was a hollow space, marking by stone formed into the shape of waves that curved away from the sunlight in the roof. The hole allowed light to fall onto the podium’s surface. Decorative carving lined the edges of the roof, hanging like lace from a delicate fin. Even with moss creeping up the columns and chips in the stone, Lance had never seen something so skilfully made, something that shouted importance in every curve and contrasting straight line.

But it wasn’t the architecture that caught his attention. No, it was what was nestled on the podium that his eyes fixated on.

Cautious, Lance swam closer, following the paths cut into the ground. The Podium was almost as tall as he was, and too thick for him to see in one glance. He circled it before finally approaching what it presented.

A sphere sat lightly on the podium. Lance guessed that it was probably around the same size as a merfolk’s egg, perhaps a little smaller. The orb was completely round, and when he tentatively placed his hand on it, it was cool and effortlessly smooth to the touch. The colour was completely indiscernible to his eyes, but it looked so blue that something deep in his heart began to ache. An iridescent sheen glinted off the orb, reflecting that blue onto his face, and the more he looked, the more he felt like he saw. Pale pinks, glittering golds, bright teals and cold aquamarines… 

It was mesmerizing. 

And while Lance was sure it wasn’t the exact same orb from the one depicted in the Sea God’s frieze, the one that sat atop his staff, it felt the same. It carried the accumulated importance of the entire temple, and reflected everything that the temple _was._ For all intents and purposes, this was the orb that the Sea God used to make the tides. 

He almost wanted to carry it away, felt compelled to do _something_ with it, but even if the orb hadn’t been too heavy to move, he didn’t dare touch it for long. 

Though he did linger. Like those tiny fish drawn to the light of crystals, he flittered around the orb, tentatively reaching out to touch it before jerking his hand back with an apologetic trill. He wondered if it would do something, and hoped that it would, but not even all the curious coos and pleading whines could produce anything from it.

Eventually something drew Lance away. He committed the orb to memory, made sure he remembered the way the moonlight spotlighted its soft curves and the way it seemed as though there were an entire ocean moving through and around it. Whether it was a depiction of the sphere the Sea God had in his story or not, it felt _real,_ and Lance was hopelessly drowned in its spell.

What urged him away was his mate. Lance could feel Keith’s impatience through their bond, a tentative string only barely keeping them together. His mate needed him, needed protection. Lance had had enough time to himself. If he could have, he would have stayed exploring the temple forever. If he hadn’t had his mate with him, he just might have. He thought of when his parents had taken him to what could have been Moonset Deep, when he was much younger. His parents would have protected him, made sure he didn’t fall into a thrall at the temple. He had to be more careful here, especially with his mate depending on him.

It was still with a heavy, forlorn heart that he left the orb and its grand home. He’d only seen the corridors and archways once, but he knew them as well as he knew the back of his hands, or the shape of his pendant. 

Keith was where he left him. 

Lance watched from the archway, observing his mate with keen eyes. Keith was observing the Sea God’s frieze, his hand pressed against the black smudge where the Sea God’s scales had been torn from him. Something seemed to make Keith shrink smaller, and he drifted away, instead turning his attention to the ground. He perched on one of the protruding, mossy rocks and ran his hands over the collection of brightly coloured stones between the corals. One seemed to catch his attention, and with surprised, raised eyebrows, he lifted stone. Lance watched with increasing amusement as Keith turned the stone over in his hands, before smiling and tucking it away for safekeeping beneath the tight holster that held his knife in place. Lance couldn’t see the stone, but he was glad his mate was amazed by the beauty of the temple. That is how it should be.

Keith noticed him soon after. Lance swam closer, cooing. His mate seemed nervous, or guilty, and unease flickered in Lance’s stomach. Perhaps he hadn’t been fair to Keith, especially not after Keith willingly joined him in the depths of the ocean. How could he explain to Keith the gravity of the temple? Of the effect it had on him? He was still under its spell, struggling between instinct and rationality.

With careful fingers, he reached for Keith’s hands. Their knuckles brushed, cool skin against cooler gloves, but Keith didn’t flinch away from the touch. Instead he hooked his index finger around Lance’s, and then the rest followed. Lance hummed, put at ease. Even through the suit, Keith’s touch felt good. 

“Lance, can I ask you something?”

Lance blinked, and nodded. He swam back and forth in front of Keith, shifting from his right side to his left, Keith’s hand clutched in his own. He wanted nothing more than to lay across the ground and remain there forever, but he wouldn’t.

“This pendant,” Keith started, as he reached for the stone around his neck to show Lance, “you’ve done so much to protect it, to keep it. Even though I have it, you always look for it, always make sure it’s there. Why… why is it so important to you?”

Lance thought that was an odd question, so he answered it honestly, in the only way he felt he could. “Because it means everything to people like me.”

Keith’s eyes fixed on his face. “To merfolk?”

Lance nodded. “Our parents give them to us as newborns,” he said. He absentmindedly traced his eyes to the pendant, and then to the floor, contemplative. “We never take them off. They are who we are, who we wish to become. A pendant only ever changes hands when it is gifted to a mate.”

“A mate?”

“A bondmate. The merfolk we pledge our hearts and our lives to. We only ever have one.”

Keith looked troubled. He glanced down at the pendant, nestled in his hand. “And I stole it from you,” he whispered.

There was a dull ache in Lance’s chest, an echo of something worse. All of his wounds from that first scuffle, and from all after, excluding his scale scar, had disappeared. There were changes to his body that were fixable, like the dryness in his skin and the salt in his gills from breathing oxygen. Some could never be repaired or forgotten, like his missing scale. The pendant was somewhere in between. It was so much a part of him that it may have well been a scale itself, but as something he would one day give away, he could not treat its loss as he did his scar. But it still hurt. It hurt because he’d lost it, and now he no longer wanted it back. 

Keith pulled the pendant from around his neck and cradled it in his palms. 

Had the bond affected Keith, too? 

“It’s okay,” Lance whispered, soothing. 

Even through the haze of the moon and the pull of the temple, there was clarity in his voice, and in his decisions. Somewhere along the way, Keith had become more than a forged bond, more than an unwilling captor. He had never been the monster that all the stories warned Lance about. There was more to him that Lance couldn’t untangle, something about him that ached to be cared for. Lance had a feeling that Keith had never known kindness in his life. Even without the bond, Lance hoped that he would have liked Keith for who he was trying to be, for who he was showing Lance he _could_ be. 

And he hoped that the bond had nothing to do with that. 

He curled his palms under Keith’s, urged his fingers closed. “You can keep it safe for me.”

Keith didn’t say anything. He ran his thumb over the smooth edge of the pendant, and looped it around his neck. 

It was time to leave the temple. If they stayed any longer, Lance feared he would do something he’d regret. He nudged Keith off the rock, and headed back for the entrance. 

“Will you tell me more about the pendant?” Keith asked, as he followed after Lance. “I… I know it’s probably not allowed, but I want to know more. About your people. About… about you.”

“Later,” Lance said. It sounded more like a promise than he wanted it to, but a tiny smile tugged at the corners of Keith’s lips, so he let the thought go. Perhaps he would ask Keith about his family and his life on the land in return, when the right time arose. 

Lance let Keith slip into the tunnel first. He couldn’t help but glance over his shoulder as he swam, at the slowly disappearing image of the Sea God in all his grandeur. The stories warned Lance not to let a human see him. The stories warned him not to kiss a human. The stories warned him never to fall in love with one. 

But the stories didn’t tell him what to do if that happened. The Sea God had rallied his powers and whatever remained of his heart to protect his people, but Lance was no God. He had no powers, no will to control the ocean and its tides. He was susceptible to the gravity of the Sea God and the will of the human who unknowingly carried the key to who he was. 

Could the Sea God ever forgive him for falling in love with Keith? For betraying all of the heartbreak the Sea God suffered through in order to make his people wiser? Were the wills of Lance’s easily-won heart something that the great Sea God ever feel forgiveness for?

Because he did love Keith, even if he had never intended to.

And something told him that it wasn’t entirely the fault of the bond.

Soon enough, the Sea God’s frieze disappeared, and Lance was once more swallowed by the dark depths of the ocean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really beautiful [art](https://twitter.com/swordiris/status/912787405064749056) by swordiris from the last chapter ❤ that's exactly how I imagined that scene to go! Thank you so much ^^
> 
> Receiving support for my fics, whether it's art or comments or even a reader who comes back for more, is something I really appreciate. I wouldn't be half as motivated to continue if I didn't receive such wonderful feedback.
> 
> Also, part of this chapter is taken from something I drew a while again, which can be seen [here](http://fairydens.tumblr.com/post/151928152913/why-is-it-so-important-to-you-because-it). The scene has changed a lot since I drew that (as has my art style... yikes) but I still wanted to include it! The pendant is very important to Lance and the story, so more about it will be coming up soon ❤ I feel like this chapter was a bit boring, but hopefully there's enough to stay interesting! I really wanted to squeeze in some more emotion before the action picks back up ^^"


	29. No Escape

The surrounding waters were still dark with night when they emerged, but it was impossible to ignore the way the darkness felt _crowded._

Lance could sense the overabundance of creatures lurking around the island. The temple and the full moon had drawn them, and a small part of his mind thought that perhaps he had, too. He could sense them in the water, circling around the edges of his senses as the slow, thick tide drew them as close to the temple as they could get. He wondered if Keith could sense it too, and the moment Keith drifted closer to him, sinking in against his side, he knew he could.

“It’s almost dawn,” Keith said, as he tapped at one of the panels on his suit. “My scanners are all static – the storm must have hit.”

Lance remained silent. He put his arm around Keith’s waist to keep him steady as he swam upwards. The water close to the island was slow, but the further they strayed, the more angry the water became. Lance had heard storms ravage the ocean before, but he’d always been too deep down for it to affect him. The urge to swim deeper was clawing at his stomach, but he couldn’t take Keith with him, so he didn’t leave.

Worry twisted at the corners of Keith’s lips. “Shiro and the others…”

It took Lance a moment to understand why Keith was so worried – not because the full moon was tugging at his mind, but because he didn’t completely understand human technology. Keith’s uncooperative scanners meant that he had no way to contact Shiro; he was blind down here. Humans weren’t designed to live beneath the waves.

They broke through the surface, but no relief was to be found there. Lance winced as they were tossed around by the furious sea. Water fell from the sky in waves of tiny droplets that pattered against his face and shoulders. He’d never seen anything like it before.

But there was no time to linger. He hauled Keith towards the boat, where it was nothing more than a dark blur obscured by the rain and the water beating at its sides. For a moment he thought that the boat was abandoned, but when he helped Keith clamber up onto the deck, Shiro appeared to offer a hand. He didn’t look happy with Keith, but relief was hiding in the downturn of his lips, and he made sure Keith didn’t slip on the wet surface of the boat.

“What’s the situation?” Keith asked, as he pulled off his helmet. Rain darkened his hair within seconds. 

“The storm is interfering with our equipment, we’re almost blind,” Shiro said. They moved towards the door, and reluctant to be parted from Keith, Lance tried to clamber up after him. There was no way he could drag himself onto the deck with the boat rocking so uneasily, and he whined. The moon wasn’t completely gone, and neither were his wild instincts. 

Keith startled at the noise, and rushed back to help him. He grunted as he pulled Lance up by the arms, ignoring Lance’s winded huff. He sprawled gracelessly against the deck, and flicked his fins back, irritated. Merfolk really weren’t meant to leave the water.

“We need to get inside,” Shiro demanded. He helped Keith lift Lance, and then disappeared down the stairs leading beneath the deck. Keith followed, his arms tense. Lance clutched at his shoulders as he kept his tailfin flicked up so that it wouldn’t drag along the floor.

The interior of the boat was considerably warmer, but not in a pleasant way. Keith set Lance down on a step a few away from the bottom, carefully adjusting his tail so that it wasn’t in the way. He himself stood by the bottom stop, arms crossed, like he was daring anyone to come closer. 

Pidge and Matt were crowded around a small table laden with mechanical boxes, chunks of wires and glowing screens. Lance couldn’t comprehend any of it, but their expressions weren’t good. He watched Shiro lean over Matt’s shoulder and frown. 

“It’s definitely Zarkon here,” Matt murmured, as he gestured to the screen. “The scanners are unclear no matter what we do, but it looks like there’s just the one ship.”

“But?” Keith prompted.

“But it’s a big one. Lots of guns. Lots of speed.”

Lance winced. He turned his eyes to his tail, tracing the length of it, to his lacy fins and the missing scale. The wound had healed now, but in its place was something uglier and more pitiful than an open scar. Distracted, Lance traced his upper scales, where blue blended into the brown of his skin. There was no distinct line, no perfect merge – bigger, wider scales blended with smaller, thinner, semi-translucent ones, until suddenly there was skin instead. He was starting to dry out, and could feel salt crusting over his gills, but it was a sensation he’d become used to now. 

Keith took a seat beside him, and put his arm around Lance’s shoulders, drawing him close. His eyes had followed Lance’s, and looked at the wound with something Lance didn’t want to read into. Instead, he let himself be comforted by Keith’s guidance. Whether it was in the water, when Lance took the lead, or on the land, where Keith sacrificed his comfort for Lance’s, there was safety in their embrace.

“We’re cornered here,” Matt said, as he straightened, and rubbed at his eyes. “There’s no way out.”

“We can’t use the storm as cover?” Keith asked.

“It’s too strong. The boat will capsize.”

“What if we escaped onto the island?”

“Then we’d have no way off it.”

Keith’s scowl deepened. Lance glanced between the humans, his fins pressing back. The only reason Zarkon was after them was because they’d stolen him. Lance knew that Zarkon was unhinged, and that he had the power to get what he wanted with whatever means necessary. He’d employed people to capture a merfolk, and they had. He’d employed people to store a merfolk like property, and they had. He’d threatened to tear off Lance’s scales if he didn’t give them willingly, and he had.

There was nothing he wasn’t capable of doing.

A small part of Lance admitted that the safest thing to do was to hand him over. If the humans could leave Zarkon what he wanted as a distraction and escape, then they could disappear.

Lance risked a glance at Keith. His thick brows were furrowed, but his frustrated expression eased when he caught Lance’s gaze. He tilted his head to the side, questioning, but seemed to realise what Lance was thinking without any words spoken. His fingers curled around Lance’s shoulder, squeezing gently.

“There must be something we can do,” Keith said.

Pidge glanced up. His eyes lingered on Keith’s hand. “Well if you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them. This storm isn’t going to give us cover forever.”

Keith stood, his fingers lingering on Lance’s skin for a moment before he gravitated towards the screens. “Show me.”

Lance watched what he could of the screens. He could only understand a small portion of the information Keith was filing through, but listened intently. The sharks and whales were condensing around the island, making it difficult for Zarkon’s larger ship to sail closer. Still, it seemed to be pressing on, carving a path through the storm like a knife. 

They couldn’t outsail Zarkon. They couldn’t outfight him, or outswim him.

Lance didn’t know how they were going to escape.

He didn’t know _he_ was going to escape.

He wished he’d never left the water.

“Tell me how you escaped last time,” Matt suddenly said. He held up a hand when Shiro made a move to speak. “Yes, I know you’ve already told me. Tell me again.”

“I rigged a boat for Shiro to use and left it hidden around the cliff,” Pidge explained, glancing up. “Without the tracking systems and a rewired computer, the boat is pretty much untraceable. I made a cloaking device – you know that cube I showed you, Matt? – to render the boat all but invisible, even when it employs sonar and radar.”

“That won’t work if Zarkon can see us, though,” Shiro pointed out.

“It explains how you two got away,” Matt said, “but not how they did.”

Lance straightened, and shared a tense glance with Keith. He didn’t want to think about all they’d had to go through to get out. 

Keith folded his arms again. “The alarms were disabled. I snuck in, stole Lance, and we used the body masses of the whales to hide amongst to get out.”

“You swam all the way to meet up with Shiro?” Matt asked, incredulous.

“We hitched a ride with the whales.”

“Literally?”

“Yes.”

Matt ran a hand back through his hair. “So the whales are friendly?”

“No,” Lance said. He didn’t want the humans getting any funny ideas. “They are the Sea God’s companions, and respect merfolk. We do not use them. They are free beings.”

“So I take it we can’t pull the same trick.”

“Unlikely.” Lance had gotten lucky that it was Blue’s pods who heard his cries while he was in captivity. Not all whales might be tempted to follow a merfolk’s cry, and although some might, others would not be so curious. 

Matt leaned against the table, one hand holding his chin. He was silent for a moment. “We could contact someone for help…”

“We’re not risking Lance’s safety,” Keith snapped.

“I didn’t say that,” Matt assured him. “The people I’ve been with – Altea Industries – they could help. Their founder could.”

“How can you be sure?” Keith argued. “There’s already too many people that know about Lance. We have to get him home, but there’s no point in doing that if the Galra are going to be scouring the ocean for him forever. The less people, the better.”

“I know.” Matt sounded frustrated, but he hid it well, better than Keith did. “I know the founder personally. I trust her. She wants Zarkon out of the water more than any of us do.”

“Why?”

“There’s always been a rivalry between the Galra and the Alteans,” Shiro said. “Even after the garrison was founded and stricter laws about sea exploration were implemented. Zarkon wants to plunder the ocean for financial profit, but Alfor – Altea’s original founder – strove to protect anything in the water.”

“His daughter runs the company now,” Matt explained. “Her beliefs are even deeper than her father’s. She’ll stop at nothing to save the ocean from Zarkon. Allura is a good person.”

“How can you know those philosophies extend to merfolk? To Lance?” Keith insisted. “How can you know she won’t take him for herself, or try to martyr him? Put him on a poster and broadcast that the oceans have to be protected because his kind live there?”

Lance winced, his tail thumping against the floor. Keith’s fears were his fears too. The fewer humans that knew about him, the better. He’d already risked so much letting these four know, and who knew how many of Zarkon’s men were aware of his existence? His entire species could be in danger, and it’d be his fault. There was no way to tell if they’d even accept him back, if he ever found his way home.

“I’m not saying we have to tell her, it’s just an option,” Matt said. “And we’re running out of options right now.”

Lance briefly considered asking if he could be set free. If he could escape on his own, find a pod of whales or dolphins willing to let him find shelter amongst them until he ended up somewhere familiar. It could take years for him to swim the entire ocean looking for home, but he’d do it. He could hide in the temple, or swim through it to see if it opened up on the other side of the island, and disappear into the depths of the ocean. Far enough that no human would ever find him again.

But he couldn’t leave Keith.

One day he might have to, but right then he couldn’t.

“What if we split up?” Keith asked. “There are two boats. Zarkon can’t follow both.”

“There are probably ships docked in the one he’s got; its heavy duty. A war ship in everything but name.”

Keith made an aggravated noise, his fists clenching. Lance wanted to comfort him, but there was no way for him to cross the room. As if Keith could sense his thoughts, he strode back over to sit beside Lance, and leaned against his side. Lance trilled, low and quiet, just enough for Keith to hear. Tension ebbed out of Keith until he was no longer pressing crescent-shaped marks into his palms.

“I don’t know what to do, Lance,” he confessed. “How can I save you?”

Lance didn’t know either. 

Outside, the storm continued. Loud cracks resonated from the sky, like great chunks of rock separated themselves from cliffs and chasms deep in the ocean. Water fell down from the sky like it was trying to drown the boat. 

“I didn’t know the sky could cry,” Lance whispered. 

Keith glanced at him. “You mean the rain?”

“Rain.” Lance tested the word, and closed his eyes. Even if the land produced scorching sunlight and raging droughts, it still knew when to weep. “Maybe I should go.”

Keith frowned. “Go?”

“To them. The Galra. If it means you won’t be hurt…”

“No!” Keith snapped. The others glanced over at his outburst, but shied away from his furious glare, a look he quickly turned on Lance. “I’m not going to let you go anywhere near them. You are worth more than that, Lance.” He curled his fingers over the top of Lance’s, his other hand finding the pendant still hanging from his neck. “You are worth more than anything. I won’t be the cause of your pain ever again.”

Lance clenched his jaw. A sickly feeling of relief was spreading through him. He didn’t want to give himself up, but offering it seemed like the right thing to do. He was stupidly relieved that Keith had denied him so furiously that it made him dizzy. 

Keith’s anger fizzled out when he realised Lance wasn’t going to give himself up to save them – not that it probably would have made a difference with Zarkon. Keith let his forehead fall against Lance’s shoulder, and hoarsely whispered, “I can’t lose you, Lance.”

It was then that Lance knew for sure that their bond wasn’t because of the kiss or the pendant. 

He wasn’t sure how he knew, but he _did,_ and he knew he wasn’t wrong.

But that didn’t change the fact that they were cornered. The machinery began to beep, and one screen flashed red. Pidge furiously tapped at the machine’s buttons, but it was clear they were trapped, and Zarkon’s patience had grown thin.

Their time had run out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took me a while to write, mostly because I wasn't sure where to take this chapter after I had the first couple hundred words down. The plot has deviated from what I originally intended, and while I know how it'll end up, getting there is sometimes a little difficult for me. It bothers me a bit when I'm frequently asked to update, or when the next chapter will be out - I know it's late, and I'm trying my best, but if I rush then I'm going to regret what I write and spend longer trying to fix it. I really want this story to be as satisfying as possible, while still remaining true to my original ideas! I update chapters for my stories every day, but the ones that take longer (mostly this, and The Quiet) are stories I put a lot of effort into. I can only promise to try and be quicker with my updates, but sometimes they're just going to take a little longer than usual.


	30. Allura Altea

A shockwave abruptly sent the boat rocking. Lance was almost thrown off the stairs, and would’ve went sprawling if Keith hadn’t grabbed him around the waist.

“What was that?” Keith asked, standing. 

“A warning shot,” Pidge answered, looking shaken. “It hasn’t hit us, but it was close. There’s no way to escape from a blast like that.”

Lance’s heart was frantic. His hands, pressed against the stairs, were still buzzing from the way the shot’s impact had made the air hum. All his life, merfolk had been the strongest force in the ocean. As a joined force they could take on sharks and whales and the tide itself, bending it to their wills. Lance didn’t know anyone stronger of body than his father, or stronger of mind than his mother. How could anything else contain more power and strength of heart than merfolk, the favoured children of the Sea God?

Doubt was starting to creep in. Another blast shocked the boat, coming from the other side this time. Lance grabbed at Keith’s arm to keep himself balanced. He felt like his bones were shaking as the air trembled with the impact. It made all his teeth ache.

“Wait a minute…” Pidge suddenly turned all his attention to his computers, hunching over one with a rapt look in his eyes. His fingers flew across the keys, and then he reared back, surprised. “What is that?”

Shiro leaned over his shoulder, and frowned deeply. “Is that–?”

“It’s another ship.” Pidge sunk back into his chair, though his fingers clutched at the edge of the table. “Another big one. As big as Zarkon’s.”

“Is it the Galra?” Keith pressed. He moved to lean over the table, his eyes searching the screen. “Whose is it?”

“Allura’s.”

Lance turned to look at Matt at the sound of his voice. He looked uneasy, but there was a hardness in his eyes that made Lance bristle. The furious look Keith shot him made Lance feel vindictively satisfied.

“What do you mean its Allura’s?” Keith demanded.

“I sent her a message the moment we realised Zarkon was on our tail.” Matt shared a glance with Pidge, who winced when Keith’s glare turned to him. 

“And was that before or after you found out about Lance?” An angry, anxious infection had grown in the undertones of Keith’s voice, one that made Lance edgy. Keith’s hands curled into fists against the table. “Well?”

Matt was silent for as long as he could be, before he let out a huffed breath, and said, “After.”

Keith’s lips twisted into a scowl. “Does she know? Does Altea Industries know about Lance?”

Again Matt was silent, like he was trying not to answer, or trying to figure out what he could say that wouldn’t infuriate Keith. He steeled himself, arms crossed over his chest. “She knows,” he said. “Just Allura.”

Keith banged one hand against the table so hard it looked like it might break. “That wasn’t your secret to tell!” He snarled. “Do you understand what danger you’ve put Lance in? We should have never come looking for you!”

“Keith!” Shiro barked, stepping in between them when it looked like Keith’s anger might make itself more known. 

Keith rounded on Shiro. “Did you know about this?”

“No,” Shiro said. He sounded honest, and if the furrow in his brows was any indicator, then he wasn’t completely convinced of Matt’s trust in Altea, either. “How much does she know, Matt?”

“Not much,” Matt said. He’d taken several steps back, but jumped when Lance snarled at him, baring his teeth. “I didn’t tell her details. There were rumours that Zarkon had found a prize in the ocean–”

“I am no prize!” Lance snapped.

“I know that, I know,” Matt said, hands raised. “Rumours are just rumours. Allura knew that he had something; I just told her that there was truth in the rumours. She doesn’t know about Lance specifically, just that he exists. That he’s not human.”

Strange, dark unease shifted in Lance. He felt dirty, and dug his nails harder into the wood of the staircase to prevent himself from scratching at his skin as if there was something there he could scrape away. He knew the blight was not physical, but was something staining his soul. Something that could harm not only his family and his shoal, but his entire species. 

“This is Altea’s ship, then?” Pidge asked, his eyes flickering between everyone nervously. 

A crackling noise from the machines seemed to answer Pidge’s question. Pidge fiddled with it for a moment, until the crackling became clear, and a woman’s voice emerged. 

“This is _Castle of Lions,_ Captain Allura Altea. Come in, Matt.”

Matt only answered her call after Keith stiffly moved aside, coming to sit by Lance again. His anger was almost palpable, but Lance wasn’t scared of him. Something instinctual knew that Keith would never direct that anger at him, no matter how much it welled up inside of him, threatening to burst at any moment.

“I’m sorry,” Keith said.

It took Lance a moment to realise what he was apologizing for – Matt’s actions. It was strange to him; merfolk never apologised for someone else’s behaviour, not even their own children’s. If one was at fault, then the weight of the apology fell to their shoulders. It was an expected behaviour; their young understood that responsibility, even if a sharp pinch from their parents was needed to provoke the correct response.

“Do all humans apologise for the wrongdoings of others?” Lance asked.

Keith’s eyes shifted. Thinking about the question seemed to drain some of the anger from him. “I guess,” he finally said. “Apologizing for something bad, even if we didn’t do it, comes naturally.”

“Why?”

“Someone has to say sorry.”

“Even if you had nothing to do with the problem?”

Keith winced. “I had something to do with this.”

“That wasn’t what I asked.”

“Then I guess so. It’s in our nature to see the bad things other people do, and if the only way we can make it better is to apologise, then that’s what we do.”

“‘Sorry’ seems like a wasted word if it’s used so carelessly.”

Keith looked down. 

Lance pressed his lips together. He hadn’t meant to sound so harsh, or so critical of humans. An apology of his own lingered in his mouth, but he didn’t say it. Instead, he leaned his head against Keith’s, so that they were hunched together for a moment. “Don’t worry,” he whispered, “humans are just strange creatures.”

A wry smile pulled at the corners of Keith’s mouth. “Says the half-fish.”

Matt got the machines working after a moment of fiddling. He pulled a small black box away from one of the computers, carefully untangling the wire that kept it anchored. It beeped as he pressed a button on its side and held it to his mouth. “Allura, can you hear me? It’s Matt.”

The machine crackled as Matt released the button, before the woman’s voice came through again. “Loud and clear. That you docked on the island?”

“Yeah, we’re in the boat to the south.” 

“Alright. Wait a moment.”

Silence fell across them. Lance stared hard at the little box, wondering how humans could send their voices through it. He had no doubt that it wouldn’t work in the water, but in the air it was like they were talking directly to one another. Lance didn’t like it.

“Zarkon has you pinned against the shore,” Allura said. “The storm is interfering with our scanning systems, so we can bet the Galra are experiencing the same problem. We can guess they can’t tell we’re here yet.”

Lance frowned, wondering how Allura knew about the Galra ship if her scanners weren’t working. He guessed Matt had told her.

“What’s the plan?” Shiro asked, as he took the little black box from Matt. “We can’t sail out of here, Zarkon’s close enough to see us. He’s already fired off warning shots.”

“Can you travel across the island?”

“No.” Shiro shot a glance at Lance, who flicked his tailfins. There was no way he could travel across land, not even if someone carried him. He would be too heavy, and if Zarkon fired again, there’d be no chance of them diving out of the way in time. 

Allura let out a hissed breath that was only just loud enough for Lance to hear. “Alright. We need to divert the Galra’s attention. I don’t suppose your boat has any offensive weapons?”

“None.”

“Damn. Give me a minute.”

Again, Allura’s voice disappeared. Shiro and Matt shared a glance that said too many things for Lance to understand. He looked to Keith, feeling spurned, but his heart settled when they shared words without speaking, too. 

Allura’s voice returned. “Alright, I have an idea.”

“Is it a good one?” Matt asked.

“Definitely not. Now, listen closely. The _Castle of Lions_ is equipped with a canon that can fire electrically charged bullets. It won’t do much against the Galra’s armour, but it can disable their weapons for about a minute. That should be enough to fire up your boat and get it out of the shallows, right?”

“Should be.”

“Good. Zarkon will know where we are as soon as we fire, so you need to be quick. Round the far side of the island, and meet us there. You’ll have to abandon that ship, so make sure you have everything you need ready. This is not going to be an easy ride.”

“Will your ship be able to hold off Zarkon’s attacks?” Shiro asked, frowning. He would know better than any of them the strength the Galra had. Unbidden, Lance’s eyes drifted to Shiro’s metal arm. It was working decently, but nowhere near full power. As much as it was a part of Shiro’s body, it would always be a weapon, first and foremost. Lance could not conceive it as anything other than dangerous.

A strange grin came to Matt’s face. “You have no idea. The Alteans have the best defensive technology in the world, even better than the garrison. Their particle barrier can hold off even the Galra’s blasts.”

“But not forever,” Allura said, her voice verging on chastising. “The technology my father helped create wasn’t meant to be used for human needs, but unfortunately we had no other choice when the Galra started manufacturing offensive weaponry. It can withstand their full force for several minutes, just long enough for you to escape and board. I can’t emphasise enough how time-sensitive this will be.”

Lance flicked his tail uneasily. He looked at Keith again, and found Keith frowning. 

“What about Lance?” Keith asked. 

“We take him with us,” Shiro said.

Lance bit the inside of his cheek until it hurt. He didn’t want to be on another ship, especially not one big enough and strong enough to take on Zarkon’s. He didn’t trust Allura, or any human for that matter, except for Keith. He did not believe that the Alteans would treat him as any less of a _prize,_ just because they weren’t interested in showcasing him. He was afraid to be their trophy, to be the thing they won from the Galra, from Zarkon.

Keith’s fingers curled around one of Lance’s wrists. “I’m not going to risk exposing Lance, not even to the Alteans,” he said. “I won’t take him on that ship.”

“You can’t swim your way out of this one,” Shiro argued. “We can ask Allura to contain him privately–”

“He’s not a pet!”

“I didn’t mean it like that Keith, and you know it,” Shiro snapped. 

“What’s the problem?” Allura asked. “We don’t have time for this.”

Keith jumped to his feet and snatched the black box away from Shiro. “What are you going to do with the civilian?” He demanded.

Allura was silent for a moment. “Nothing,” she finally said. “The crew have been instructed to stay off the deck. My assistant will help you hide them in an isolated wing of the ship. It’ll be temporary, until we lose Zarkon. We’ll figure it out from there.”

Keith’s lips curled with distaste. He thrust the black box at Shiro. 

“A decision must be made,” Allura insisted. “Time is running out, and Zarkon will not wait–”

Another shockwave sent the boat tipping. Lance was thrown to the side, his shoulder colliding with the wall. For a moment it seemed like the boat was going to be completely upended, but it suddenly fell back to its former position, sinking away from the shoreline. Lance sprawled across the floor, unable to keep himself balanced. He snarled when Shiro moved to help him up, his voice echoing around the room.

“What was that?” Allura called, but her voice crackled, and then disappeared completely. Lance didn’t know if she was asking about the blast or about him.

“Time to go,” Shiro said. He bolted up the stairs and was gone.

Keith crouched behind Lance, and helped him sit up, propping Lance against his knee. He didn’t apologise this time.

Lance clawed at Keith’s arm, trying to find something to grip onto. His armour was still wet from being in the sea, and he smelt so heavily of saltwater that Lance’s heart couldn’t help but lurch with longing. He watched Pidge stare intensely at the computer screen, and then give a little jolt. The sound of air bursting twitched in Lance’s ears, making him wince.

“Now, Shiro!” Matt shouted up the stairs.

The boat rumbled to life. Being inside it while it moved like that made Lance nauseous. His stomach rolled, and he thumped his tail against the floor, ignoring the creak the floorboards gave. He needed the water. When the boat lurched backwards and Keith wobbled, Lance dug his claws into the armour so hard it made Keith let out a pained rush of air.

“I won’t let them hurt you, Lance,” Keith promised, his voice quick and harsh, still tainted by anger. It was so protective and certain that the anger hardly registered. “I know you don’t want to go on that boat.”

Lance nodded. That was the bond sharing his fear for him. 

He paused. 

Keith was looking at him strangely, eyes flickering with confusion. “How do I know that?” He wondered aloud.

There was no time to dwell on the question. The boat rocked violently, and the sound of metal grinding on metal made Lance slap his hands over his ears. Keith dragged him closer to the wall, where they could steady themselves as the boat started to roar with movement. 

The boat was moving fast now, having jolted itself out of the turbulent shallows, but Lance could tell that something wasn’t going right. Allura had said that her plan wasn’t a good one… Lance ached to be in the ocean, knowing he was completely unsafe out in the air. His tail swished against the floor, his fins pressed back as far as they could go. The water was safe. 

He had to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy belated holidays. I hope everyone’s enjoying some time off! I’m actually taking a summer course at university, so my only week off was this week... during which I’m working full time, so no holiday for me ^^” This chapter is a little full of dialogue, but hopefully it’ll balance out with the next one, which will have a lot more action ^^


	31. Going Under

As the boat lurched out of the shallows, fighting the current of the storm’s current, Lance tried to keep his stomach under control. This was not like being on a boat travelling over calm waters. “Keith,” he whispered, low and urgent, “I need to be in the ocean.”

Keith looked at him in alarm. “It’s too dangerous–”

“It’s dangerous here!” Lance hissed. He wanted to escape into the depths, to be far from the reach of humans – Galra, Alteans, it didn’t matter. The only human he trusted was Keith, the only one he needed was Keith. 

Torn, Keith glanced between the others and the stairwell, before setting his expression. He put one arm around Lance’s back, the other looping under his tail. “Okay,” he said, and then again, “Okay. You’ll be safer in the water. You can move faster.” He sounded like he was trying to convince himself, so Lance remained silent. He didn’t trust the humans to keep him safe, no matter how much they wanted to evade Zarkon. Lance wasn’t willing to lose anything else because of them.

The scar on his tail throbbed.

Keith managed to get him halfway up the stairs before Shiro appeared at the top. A tense moment passed when the two humans stared at one another, speaking silent words that Lance could never understand. Something uneasy pinched between Shiro’s brows, and when his eyes flickered to him, Lance unblinkingly met his gaze. Even if there were things between humans he could not understand, that didn’t mean there were things about merfolk Shiro wouldn’t understand, either. 

“I’m taking him to the water,” Keith eventually said. 

“It’s not safe,” Matt started, stepping forwards. “We need to wait for Allura’s signal–”

A burst of static erupted from Pidge’s machines, making Lance flick his fins back in irritation. There was a moment where the air seemed to flee from the boat’s interior, until it all suddenly snapped into place with the echoing of a distant boom. A fizz ran through the air, one that made the hair on Lance’s arms prickle. The lights briefly flickered, and then Allura’s voice crackled through the black box.

“One minute and counting,” she warned.

Shiro was gone when Lance looked back up the staircase. Keith hesitated but at Lance’s insistent noise, he continued up and out into the storm. The rain hadn’t let up, and it made Lance flinch as it struck his drying skin. He tried to crane his head around to see the Altean ship, but the rain made everything murky. 

The boat jerked as waves battered its side. Lance felt like they were tugging at him, twining through his blood in an attempt to drag him back under. He clawed at Keith’s shoulder, fingers scrabbling against his suit. Keith stumbled on the slippery deck, his grip on Lance loosening. Lance squirmed free, plummeting off the edge of the boat and into the churning water.

Coolness swept across his skin, flooding his lungs and hydrating his gills. He scratched off the crusted salt as he let the tide pull him deeper. Being in the ocean produced an instant change in him, like all the pressure in his head had suddenly been released. He couldn’t hear anything over the roaring rush of the tide, but he could sense the pods of sea life lingering where the water was deep enough to be safe from the storm. 

Lance touched the bottom of the ocean with a kick-up of murky sand. He shook himself free of the loose grains and swam towards the surface, looking for the boat. It was moving fast, but the vibrations it made in the water were easy to follow from this distance. He had to push himself to catch up to it, but even then he wasn’t fast enough. 

As much as he needed to be in the ocean, he didn’t want to leave Keith behind.

He could see the boat through the dark water, but it was difficult. His body wasn’t as streamlined as it used to be, and his poor diet had left him out of breath after a stretch of vigorous swimming when it wouldn’t have before. He tried to keep his eyes on the shadow of the boat, or at least the frothy wake it left. 

Out of nowhere, a deep, thrumming boom raced through the ocean. Water ruptured as the shot made impact mere tail-lengths from Lance and the boat. He was thrown back through the water as a wave of searing heat rushed over him. He couldn’t tell where the surface was and blindly swum until he broke through it with a strangled gasp.

“Keith!” He shouted.

Another blast hit the ocean. Lance only saw the explosion of water it sent flying, and then the boat emerged from the waves. One lone passenger on the deck clung to its railing, face turned away as the boat staggered and rocked. In the distance was a large ship, larger than Lance’s eyes could make out through the rain. Its exterior was pale and ghostly, the opposite of Zarkon’s pitch black ship. This ship emerged from the horizon like a giant white shark, unscarred and silent. He knew it was the Altean warship.

He didn’t trust it.

He jerked his gaze towards Zarkon’s vessel. It couldn’t have been a minute yet, could it? How was he firing already? The boat had only made it halfway towards the Altean ship.

Over the wind, a voice broke through the storm. “Lance, go!”

He’d know the voice of his mate anywhere, even as fractured as it was. Keith was waving a hand, still slumped against the railing of the boat. 

“Go!” Keith shouted. 

Go where? Lance made a beeline for the boat, fighting against the waves, but another explosion pushed him away. He heard the impact before he saw it, a high, screeching sound that seemed to boom and ricochet across the choppy water. A thick plume of smoke burst up into the air with a jolt of sparks and fire.

Lance froze.

The boat had been hit.

“Keith!” He screamed.

The smoke was too thick to see through, even as the rain furiously battered it down. Lance pushed as close as he could get until he heard spluttering coughs and shaky shouts.

“Lance!”

Relief swelled up in his throat. He could hear Keith shouting, and as the smoke cleared, he could see the damage done to the boat. The back half was missing a chunk as long as Lance, and the wooden plants had caught on fire. Water was rapidly swallowing the deck as the front of the boat began to tip upwards.

“I told you to go!” Keith’s expression was twisted and desperate. An ugly, broken feeling welled up in Lance when Keith looked at him like that. He looked terrified that someone was going to take his entire world away.

Nothing in the order compelled Lance to leave. He didn’t think anything could have taken him away from Keith, not even Keith’s unwitting commands.

Nothing except Zarkon.

The black ship cast a looming shadow as it approached. Lance felt it before he saw it – even in the dark of the storm it blanketed him in a cold, tangible shadow. Panic rose like bile in his throat as he twisted his head back to look at the approaching vessel. It was worse than coming face-to-face with a deep sea shark, and more terrifying that a hypnotic temple. His skin crawled with phantom rope burns. 

Somewhere on that ship was Zarkon, and Lance knew Zarkon’s eyes were fixed on him.

Keith’s desperate shouts suddenly made a lot more sense.

Lance dove for cover beneath the waves just as a net was fired over his head. It collided with the surface and sunk fast, weighed down at the edges. Little sparks of electricity crackled over the ropes, stemming from the weights. Lance backed away, and rolled to the side as another net rocketed into the water. 

He swam for the sinking boat, feeling his heart squeeze itself into the tiniest place it could find. A yelp left him as a net snagged on his fin, not enough to trap him but enough to send a shock down his tail. He swam for the shadow of the boat but even there he wasn’t safe, not from the nets or the sinking boat. A frightened trill left him before he could stop it. He could feel Keith jerk through the bond, sensing the call even if he couldn’t hear it. His teeth sunk so hard into his inner cheek that he tasted blood. 

No more calls would leave him, not if they would draw Keith closer. It was too dangerous.

But his calls were drawing other things. Dark shapes flashed in the water, darting in and out of sight. Their aggravation slid over Lance like thick oil, one he knew well from hunts with his shoal. Aggravated animals responded badly to merfolk calls, especially distressed ones. Lance pushed forwards, diving deeper, and flinched when something big and bulky swam past him. Shark, whale, fish – he didn’t know what. They were all frantic. All lulled by the moon, the temple. All in danger.

It was like a feeding frenzy. 

In his panic, Lance had lost his sense of direction. He spun around, trying to sense the boat, or Keith, but his head was full of muted noise. He followed the wake of tiny silver bubbles left by the flashing tail of a shark and found himself beneath a giant, hulking shadow. The Galra ship.

Compartments along the bottom of the ship opened, and tiny, triangular machines rumbled out. Lance dove out of the way as one zipped straight for him. He twisted and slammed his tail into it, and the droning machine cracked, sinking lifelessly into the depths of the ocean. Its friends came for him next – soon there were so many he couldn’t even count them. He pushed himself to swim faster, to destroy them if he could, but he tired quickly. 

It was inevitable that one got him.

A sleek, clawed appendage sunk into the roundest part of his waist. He hissed and swiped at it, snapping the probing needle before it could break his skin. His mind flashed back to the rock pools, when Zarkon would drug him, force him to be compliant, and he swam faster. The machines followed, and for a moment he thought he was going to be overwhelmed when something else appeared. 

The new machines were white and spherical. A strip of pale blue light emanated from their centre. Lance watched the machine pump out a sphere of light around itself – a particle barrier – before it rammed itself against the Galra machines. The particle barrier acted like armour; it tore apart the Galra machine like it was made from nothing more than sponge.

Lance paused, breathing hard as more and more flooded the space beneath the Galra ship. They paid him no notice, and after a moment, he swam in the direction they’d come from. 

The boat was well beneath the surface when Lance unintentionally slammed into it. He backpedalled, fins flaring out, before movement caught his eye.

It was Keith.

“You have to get out of the water!” He grabbed Keith by the arms to haul him to the surface. At some point Keith had shoved his helmet back on, but he looked flushed and out of breath, and Lance was terrified for him. They burst through the surface with a gasp. “Stay out of the water!”

“But you’re here!” Keith looked like he’d said the words before thinking about them. Lance met his eyes, frantic, but something in Keith’s expression abruptly changed. He grabbed Lance by the shoulders and yanked them both to the side as a harpoon sailed through the space where their heads had been, lodging itself into the sinking hull of the boat.

Lance whipped around, teeth bared as he pushed Keith behind him.

And there was Zarkon.

He was wearing armour, bulkier than the type Keith wore, and so dark he was almost indistinguishable. He had a helmet but it looked more like a mask, glowing from within with a deep purple light. Angular eyes looked down at them from an open panel in the front of the ship – not the deck, but similar, only lower down. The guards on either side of him stood poised with harpoons.

Lance snarled, his claws digging into Keith’s arm to keep him back. Stuck between the harpoons and the sinking boat, he was horribly trapped, and a wild need to defend himself and his mate surged through him.

A tingle went up his spine a moment before a particle barrier bigger than both the warships combined detonated from the Altean ship. It crackled through the air like a force field, shaking the water and the Galra ship alike. There were large booming noises – parts of the ship sparking and combusting, and then shouts as people – _Zarkon_ – were thrown overboard. The barrier faded in an instant, but the damage had been done.

“Lance, no! _No!”_

Lance shook Keith’s grip off and dove beneath the surface after Zarkon. The purple from his armour lit him up like a beacon, and Lance wasted no time rounding on him. He slammed into Zarkon, using his momentum to drag them both deeper and deeper. Zarkon’s armour was impenetrable, even when Lance dug his claws in. He swiped at Zarkon’s face instead, tail thrashing as Zarkon grabbed him by the throat. His fingers found a notch in the helmet’s faceplate, and he pulled it back with all his might. A fissure appeared in the metal, not enough to drown him, but just enough to rip the fabric covering his neck.

Zarkon’s other hand joined the first. Both were the size of Lance’s face, with armoured claws extending off each finger. His eyes were ruthless as he pressed down on Lance’s throat, fingers crushing Lance’s gills.

He couldn’t breathe.

“You are mine,” Zarkon murmured. His voice had never sounded louder.

Lance flailed harder, tail thumping, nails digging in. Blood bloomed in the water. He wasn’t sure who it belonged to. His lungs gave a shuddering jump as everything inside of him began to burn. 

In the distance, he thought he could hear Keith calling for him.

“I am no prize,” he snarled, raspy, before slamming his tail Zarkon as hard as he could. The armour plating cracked. Ribbons of blood curled through the water, extending from the marks along Zarkon’s throat. His clawed hands swiped at Lance, digging lines across his cheek, his chest, but then Lance was already moving out of the way, letting out a long, high croon.

The noise echoed and echoed and echoed.

Shadows flashed in the depths, drawn by Lance’s call. The scent of blood encouraged jagged rows of teeth to show. 

“I am no prize,” he said again, quieter. “But you are.”

Zarkon would make a perfect reward for ravenous sharks.


	32. Guilty Hearts

Moments passed where Lance felt nothing but the ocean. The water lived and breathed, thrummed with life as it crashed and eased around him. It overwhelmed him, enveloped him in a watery, cold embrace that was as familiar to him as his heartbeat and as dangerous as the looming maw of a shark.

His mind rushed back like a wave breaking over his head. Sharks thrashed in the water deep below him, drawn close by the scent of blood. Lance’s limbs felt like they’d turned to stone. It was like the world had zeroed down to what he could feel. The shock of the cold water leeching through his skin, through the open scar on his tail… the sting and bite of the injuries Zarkon had inflicted on him… the distant but persistent tug of the bond, yawning open like a physical wound.

Above, the storm continued to rage. Lance forced himself to move. Shapes curled in and out of the dark around him, big and small, dangerous and not. He could feel them slinking around him, drawn by him and Zarkon and the waning effects of the moon. None would venture close. There was an understanding between them, something instinctual and quiet, something _deep._

It said _I am you, and you are me,_ as if the Sea God had tied their hearts together. The ocean was a mess of hierarchies, a tangle of predator and prey. But sometimes it wasn’t. Like then, it wasn’t. In some strange way, Lance had never felt more alive. He existed in every part of the ocean, and every part of it existed in him.

Even if he was gone, he’d live on.

But he wasn’t gone. The bond reminded him of that. He powered on towards the surface, peeling away from the dark in a shower of silver bubbles. Thin ribbons of blood followed him, drifting from the claw marks on his chest. The ones on his cheek had already clotted. How many marks had Zarkon left on him? How many things had he stolen? His freedom? His scales? The safety of his people?

But Lance had stolen something more precious from him. 

No, he hadn’t stolen it. He’d _taken_ it. Even if the sharks had done his bidding, the blame was his. He’d carry it for the rest of his life. Was it really blame, or victory? Was it murder, or retribution?

Was Zarkon really dead?

Lance broke through the surface with a pained gasp. His gills ached as water streamed down his neck. The sea was still angry, tossing water in every direction. In the distance the Galra ship has gone dark. Inch by inch the ship sank, lifeless. It wouldn’t go under, he thought. But it wasn’t moving.

Then, out of nowhere, the _Castle of Lions_ emerged. Knowing what it could do, Lance tensed, fins flicking back. Its white outer shell was paler than the moon, masked by the froth of waves almost until it disappeared beneath them. Eerie blue light emanated from its open edges. It was still as silent as ever, even with the firepower it kept in its belly. 

Before Lance could move, something volleyed out of the ship’s body. A spherical capsule sailed through the water straight towards him before bursting open with an audible crack. Lance reared away, but it was too late. A net collapsed over him, blue light running along each intersecting rope. He screamed, raw and guttural, as the net dragged him through the water.

It was like being captured all over again.

He was being captured all over again.

Somehow the net was connected to the ship, even though there was nothing tethering it. He was yanked back as if by invisible hands. He collided with the ship with a muffled thud – the ropes were like a particle barrier, cushioning the impact, but it still bruised. He gasped as he was yanked upwards, out of the water. 

“… not glamorous, I admit,” a female voice said, her words chopped by Lance’s frantic hisses and the rush of being lifted from the water. “The capsule is magnetised so it returns here, but getting it safely out of the water is impossible in a short amount of time.”

The net jolted, edging into a panel open on the side of the ship. It wasn’t the main deck – that was far higher – but it was halfway between there and the water. The room inside was long and narrow, lit by blue lines of light running parallel along the walls. Black tracks in the floor guided the net in deeper before it clicked into place. Abruptly, the ropes reeled back into the capsule, which sealed, and locked into a stand perfectly sized for it.

Lance jerked upright, clawing at his skin. He could feel the ropes crawling all over him, digging into his bones. He snarled as someone approached. Footsteps echoed, and it sounded so fundamentally wrong that he lashed out, intent to kill. The water dripping from him made the ground slippery and he went sprawling, scales grating against the hard ground. 

“Lance! Lance, stop!”

The voice was familiar. He yearned for its comfort, and let out a pitiful trill, desperate for protection, desperate to protect. He needed water like he needed to breathe.

“Lance, please.”

Hands grabbed at his wrists, wrestling him down. He lashed out again, teeth bared, eyes wet. It wasn’t with sea water. 

“Lance.” The voice again. It cut through the panic, through the violence singing in his veins. He grabbed onto it, let it worm its way into his mind, then deeper still. He wished he could feel the weight of a pendant around his neck. Instead he could feel it pressed against his chest, trapped between him and another. 

Between him and Keith.

_Keith._

“Are you alright?” Keith’s fingers dug into his arm, then his neck, scrabbling for purchase. His fingertips trembled over the gashes on Lance’s chest. “Lance, talk to me. What happened?”

Lance could only gasp. Zarkon’s grip had crushed his gills, had bruised them, made them swell as tiny blood vessels burst beneath his skin. They weren’t crusting over properly, weren’t sealing. “Water,” he pleaded, wheezing. “Water.”

“You said you wouldn’t hurt him!” Keith snarled, rounding on the humans gathered behind him. One was clutching his arm where Lance had gouged him. “What have you done?”

“Nothing,” the woman said. Her voice sounded familiar, but Lance struggled to recall her name, until it hit him – Allura. “Bring him to the containment deck. It’s safe.”

“Why should I trust you? All you’ve done is hurt him.”

“Bring him or don’t, but either way, this ship is turning around.” 

Keith wavered, his anger palatable. He pulled Lance closer, arms around his waist and his back and his chest, unsure where to hold him. Lance put his face against Keith’s chest, against the cool panes of his armour. It was scratched and scuffed but intact. “Keith,” Lance whispered.

“Fine,” Keith bit out, “fine. I’ll bring him.”

It wasn’t a long trip to the containment room. Keith could carry a lot of Lance’s weight by himself, but not all of it. By the feel of the metal hand on Lance’s tail, it was Shiro who helped. 

The containment room looked like the rest of the ship – white and sleek, so clean it looked completely unlived in, and lit only by the blue light coming from straight lines running along each wall. The room was impossibly large, more than fifty tail-lengths across and twenty wide. The floor was a pool of water, perfectly still, glowing eerily blue from the reflection of the lights. It smelt like the sea.

“Put him in,” Allura said.

Keith complied. He and Shiro lowered Lance into the water until only Keith’s hands were keeping him afloat. The water was cool, washing over every part of him from the neck down. It made Lance’s skin feel clean in an unnatural way. 

“Better?” Keith asked. He sounded like he was begging.

“Better,” Lance forced out. He fumbled a hand along the edge of the pool and grabbed on, keeping himself steady as Keith sat back on his thighs. “I don’t feel so good.”

“What happened to Zarkon?”

Lance glanced up. Allura stood before him, dressed in a white suit that clung to every curve and edge of her body. Some parts were plated; over her chest, her legs, the lower sections of her arms. It looked like armour. Against her dark skin – darker than his, even – and her blue eyes, and the white cloud of hair cascading down her back, the suit looked as ghostly as the ship. They were a reflection of each other, her and the _Castle of Lions._ Strong, silent, sleek.

Intimidating.

But not terrifying. Even though she stood over him, her eyes weren’t looking down on him. She was assessing, curious; her gaze steady and unrelenting. But not terrifying. Almost… almost familiar.

“What he deserves,” Lance said. He held her gaze, but frustration welled in him, and he turned a glare at the ground, not wanting to aim it at her. “I am no prize.”

Keith’s fingers touched his face and the frustration ebbed away. Lance could feel that he didn’t trust Allura, and neither did he, for that matter. Now more than ever the bond was connecting them, feeding one thought across and back again, over and over. Everything overlapped. 

“So he’s still out there?” Allura turned to face the man Lance had injured. “Coran, go to the bridge and configure the scanners. Look for any signature that’s human.”

“Could be their crew,” Coran warned. 

“Doesn’t matter. Send out the drones to see what it is. Their ship isn’t going to stay down forever, and we need to get the best head start that we can. I cannot afford to waste even a second hesitating.”

Coran nodded.

“And seal off this entire deck,” Allura added. Her expression was grim. “Remove all personnel. Everyone.”

“The labs are on this deck,” Coran argued, his voice uneasy. “Science and quarantine. The technician’s control, too. If we lose them, then–”

“I know what it means. It means we have no way to fix any damage we sustain, and that rerouting any energy from one function to the next will have to be done manually. I know, Coran. But it is the price we will pay for secrecy.” Her eyes turned to Keith. “It is what I promised. Absolute, assured secrecy.”

Keith sneered at the promise. Allura was entirely unaffected.

“I’ll have provisions brought down, and a med-kit. Don’t leave this deck, and we’ll be fine. This fight isn’t over,” Allura warned. “We need to get back to Altea controlled water before any of us can relax.”

“I’m not leaving him,” Keith growled.

Allura pursed her lips. She didn’t argue. With steps that spoke of endless confidence, she left the room. Lance watched her go over Keith’s shoulder. Shiro cast a lingering look at Keith but in the end he left too. Soon the room was empty, save for them. The moment the doors slid shut, Keith let out a long breath. He unfolded his legs and stuck them in the water, letting Lance rest on his knees. As they waited for supplies, Keith stared at him. Lance looked anywhere else.

“What happened?” Keith eventually asked.

Lance shook his head.

“Okay.” Then, after a silent moment, he spoke again. “We were picked up by Allura when the particle barrier took out the Galra ship. I couldn’t… I couldn’t find you anywhere. Couldn’t see you. But it’s like– it’s like I could feel you, could sense you.”

Lance levelled his eyes on the pendant hanging from Keith’s neck. All this time and it was still there, still protected.

Keith wound his fingers around the pendant. “Why is it so important to you?”

It was a question he’d asked before. Lance gave the same honest answer. “Because it means everything to people like me.” He waited, but Keith’s silence spurred him on. Uneasy, he continued to speak the truth. “It’s a bond. A gift that cannot be returned. At birth our parents give them to us, and when we fall in love, we give them away.”

“Fall in love?”

“But only once,” he continued. “Only once can we love so deeply. If our love is misdirected, or unrequited, then the pendant will be forever without a home. But if it’s returned, then we receive a pendant in return.”

“But…” Keith made to take it off, but Lance stilled him with a hand.

“There’s a… warning,” he said, “a cautionary tale told to newborn children. It’s the first thing we hear, said to be words from the Sea God himself. It tells us to never fall in love with a human. To never kiss one.”

“Why?”

 _“They’ll bond you to them,”_ Lance recited. He could hear his mother’s voice in the words. _“To their bodies, to their souls, and you’ll be tangled in a net from which escape is especially difficult.”_

“A bond? Lance, I don’t…”

“The Sea God loved a human once,” he continued. “But that human betrayed him, stole his scales. Had the Sea God not wished so fiercely to protect us, he would have remained trapped by the kiss of that human.”

“Trapped.” It wasn’t a question. Keith’s hands inched away.

“Even if it’s not voluntary,” he whispered. He squeezed his eyes shut. “You could’ve told me to do anything and I would’ve.” He paused. “I did.”

It took a moment for Keith’s mind to catch up. “You mean when I told you not to escape? When we went over that cliff, at the rock pools. When we went back for Shiro. When… when _I_ wanted to go back for Shiro.”

Lance didn’t answer.

Keith muttered a breathless curse. He pulled his legs from the water, yanked the pendant over his head and placed it down. “All of this is because of a bond? When did I kiss–?”

It wasn’t even a kiss. 

But god, Lance wanted to kiss Keith. He hadn’t wanted that when they’d first met, not even when the bond controlled him. But now he wanted to see his pendant around Keith’s neck. 

“Keith,” he whispered brokenly.

“No!” Keith barked. “No. All of this because I gave you CPR? I thought… I thought that this was…”

The bond ached. It throbbed, tense, pained. Hurt. 

“I forced you to… this is my fault, everything…”

Lance reached for the pendant, fingers squeezing. “It’s not like that Keith,” he said. “Please, just listen.”

“None of this is real!” Keith’s voice cracked. “I thought you– and I– _hurt_ you. I need to go…”

“Keith!” Lance scrambled against the edge of the pool, reaching for Keith. He couldn’t get out of the water. _Don’t leave me._

But Keith was gone.

Lance let out an angry, anguished shout, and threw the pendant. It bounced against the ground and skidded away. If it wasn’t with Keith, then he didn’t want it anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edit: DO NOT REPOST MY WORK. This story has been stolen and reposted on wattpad TWICE by the same person, who has blocked me, and it’s very discouraging. I won’t be uploading any other chapters until they have taken it down for a second time.


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